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A  POPULAR 


HISTORY  OF  FRANCE, 


FROM 


The  First  Revolution  to  the  Present  Time. 


BY   HENRI    MARTIN. 


BY  MARY  L.  BOOTH  AND  A.  L.  ALGER. 


FULLY    ILLUSTRATED 

WITH  WOOD  AND  STEEL  PLATES   BY   A.  DE  NEUVILLE,  LEOPOLD  FLAMING,  G.  STAAL, 
VIOLLAT,   PHILIPPOTEAUX,    LIENARD.   AND  OTHERS. 


VOL.  I. 


BOSTON: 
DANA   ESTES  AND  CHARLES  E.  LAURIAT, 

301  WASHINGTON  STREET. 


COPYRIGHT,  1877. 
BY    ESTES    AXD    LAURIAT. 


••^CAMBRIDGE.  MA 

" 


5015322 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  READER. 


rTIHE  author  of  the  book  which  is  herewith  presented  to  the 
-*-  American  public  by  Messrs.  Estes  and  Lauriat  has  employed 
the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  the  study  of  French  History,  and 
in  writing  on  this  subject.  The  general  recognition  of  his 
former  works,  one  of  which  was  introduced  to  the  people  of 
America  by  Miss  Booth,  a  writer  of  rare  merit,  has  encouraged 
him  to  undertake  the  present  book,  which  is  intended  for  popu- 
lar reading.  The  importance  of  the  events  relative  to  modern 
France,  and  the  necessity  of  a  consecutive  history  of  the  causes 
and  effects  of  so  many  sudden  evolutions  and  catastrophes,  are 
apparent  to  every  student  of  history.  The  proper  relations  of 
each  epoch  to  those  preceding  and  following  it,  and  the  effect 
of  the  actions  of  illustrious  persons  upon  their  own  and  succeed- 
ing times,  cannot  be  properly  understood  by  the  reading  of  his- 
torical monographs,  though  much  may  be  gained  in  this  way. 

In  this  volume  and  those  following  the  American  reader  will 
see  New  France,  amidst  gigantic  struggles,  unheard-of  trials, 
and  unexampled  successes  and  reverses,  marching  forward,  fall- 
ing back,  abandoning  in  appearance,  and  then  resuming  finally, 
that  path  of  democracy  and  liberty  upon  which  America  had 


vi  TO  THE  AMERICAN  READER. 

entered  before  her  under  conditions  more  favorable  to  the  growth 
of  her  institutions. 

May  the  tragical  history  of  France  since  1789  win  the  sym- 
pathy of  our  sister  republic  by  aiding  her  people  to  understand 
the  enormous  difficulties  which  explain  our  misfortunes  and 
excuse  our  mistakes !  May  this  book  contribute  to  cement  the 
Franco-American  friendship,  the  monument  of  which,  sculptured 
by  the  hand  of  a  French  artist,  will  soon  rise  above  the  waves 
of  the  Atlantic  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  the  great 
Western  metropolis! 

The  author  desires  to  say  that  the  publishers  of  this  edition 
issue  it  with  his  consent  and  approval,  and  as  Miss  Booth  has 
been  long  accustomed  thoroughly  to  fathom  the  author's  mean- 
ing, and  to  interpret  it  with  fidelity  and  elegance,  he  has  as 
full  confidence  in  the  translation  made  by  her  and  Miss  Alger, 
which  he  presents  to  the  American  public,  as  if  he  had  trans- 
ferred the  work  from  its  mother  tongue  into  the  English  with 

his  own  hand. 

HENRI  MARTIN. 

PARIS,  February  19,  1877. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Beginning  of  the  Revolution.  —  The  States-General.  —  The  Oath  of  the  Tennis- 
Court 13-27 

CHAPTER    II. 

The  Constituent  Assembly.  —The  Taking  of  the  Bastille      .        .        .        .28-45 

CHAPTER    III. 

The   Constituent   Assembly   (continued).  —  The    Night   of  August   Fourth.  — 

The  Declaration  of  Rights.  —  The  Fifth  and  Sixth  Days  of  October         .     46-79 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Constituent  Assembly  (continued).  —  The  Civil  Constitution  of  the  Clergy  80-109 

CHAPTER    V. 

The  Constituent  Assembly  (continued). — The  Federation  .        .        .        .     110-117 

CHAPTER    VI. 

The  Constituent  Assembly  (continued).  —  From  the  Federation  to  the  Death  of 

Mirabeau 118-146 

CHAPTER   VII. 
The  Constituent  Assembly  (continued).  —  The  Journey  from  Varennes        .     147  - 167 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

The  Constituent  Assembly  (concluded).  —  The  Day  of  the  Champs  de  Mars.  — 

The  Declaration  of  Pilnitz.  —  Completion  of  the  Constitution      .         .     168-203 

CHAPTER    IX. 

The  Legislative  Assembly.  —  The  Elections  of  1791,  and  the  Declaration  of  War 

against  Austria.  —  The  Girondists.  —  The  Question  of  War  and  Peace     204  -  243 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   X. 

The  Legislative  Assembly  (continued).  —  The  Fall  of  Eoyalty.  —  The  Twentieth 

of  June.  —  The  Tenth  of  August 244-293 

CHAPTER    XI. 

End  of  the  Legislative  Assembly.  —  The  Conflict  between  the  Assembly  and  the 
Commune.  —  The  September  Massacres.  —  Election  of  the  National  Con- 
vention.—  Proclamation  of  the  Eepublic 294-322 

CHAPTER    XII. 

The  National  Convention. — The  War  of  the  Revolution. — Valmy. — Jemmapes. 

—  Annexation  of  Savoy  and  Nice.  —  The  French  upon  the  Rhine        .     323  -  340 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

The  Convention  (contimied).  —  Conflict  of  the  Gironde  and  the  Mountain.  — Trial 

of  Louis  XVI.  —  The  21st  of  January          .         .         .        .         .         .341-378 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

The  Convention  (continued).  —  Continuation  of  the  Conflict  between  the  Gironde 
and  the  Mountain.  —  Revolt  of  La  Vendee.  —  Loss  of  Belgium.  —  May  31 
and  June  2 379-442 

CHAPTER    XV. 

The  Convention  (continued).  —  Departmental  Resistance.  —  Constitution  of  1793. 

—  Charlotte  Corday.  —  Civil  War  and  Foreign  War.  —  Defence  of  Nantes. 

—  Loss  of  Mayence  and  Valenciennes.  —  The  Civil  Code     .         .         .     443  -  490 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

The  Convention  (continued).  —  The  Reign  of  Terror.  —  Death  of  the  Giron- 
dists  491-507 

CHAPTER   XVII. 

The  Convention  (continued).  —  Victory.  —  Carnot.  —  Hondschoote  and  Wat- 
tignies.  —  Hoche.  —  Germans  driven  from  Alsace.  —  Kleber  and  Marceau.  — 
La  Vendee  conquered.  — Taking  of  Lyons.  —  Bonaparte.  —  English  driven 
from  Toulon 508-539 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 

The  Convention  (continued).  —  Reign  of  Terror  in  the  Provinces.  —  Vendemiaire. 

—  Germinal,  Year  II. — A  new  Calendar  rechristening  the  Months  intro- 
duced late  in  October,  1793        540-548 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

The  Convention  (continued).  —  Republican  Calendar.  —  Goddess  of  Reason.  — 
Committee  of  Public  Safety.  —  Trial  of  the  Hebertists.  —  Trial  of  the  Dan- 
tonists. — Vendemiaire  to  Germinal,  Year  II 549-575 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTER   XX. 

The  Convention  (continued).  —  Campaign  of  Year  II.  —  The  Fourteen  Armies.  — 

Victory  of  Fleurus.  —  Belgium  reconquered.  —  A  Naval  Battle  .         .     576  -  585 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

The  Convention  (continued).  —  Festival  of  the  Supreme  Being.  —  Law  of  Prairial 

22.  —  Thermidor  9.  —  Fall  and  Death  of  Robespierre  and  Saint-Just  .     586  -  610 

CHAPTER   XXII. 

The  "Convention  (continued).  —  Close  of  the  Jacobin  Club.  —  Carrier's  Trial.  — 
The  Masterpieces  of  the  Convention  :  The  Polytechnic  School,  Normal 
School,  Central  Schools,  Museums,  and  the  Institute  .  .  .  .  611-622 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

The  Convention  (continued).  — Thermidorian  Eeaction.  — Counter- Revolutionary 

Massacres  in  the  South,  —  Prairial  Days.  —  Trial  of  the  Mountaineers     623  -  638 

CHAPTER   XXIV. 

The  Convention  (continued).  —  Progress  of  the  Campaign  of  1794.  —  Victories  in 
the  Pyrenees.  —  Invasion  of  Holland.  —  The  Dutch  Republic  allied  to 
France.  —  Conquest  of  the  Left  Bank  of  the  Rhine.  —  Peace  with  Prussia. 

—  Reunion  of  Belgium  and  France.  —  Peace  with  Spain.  —  Campaign  of 
1795.  —  Passage  of  the  Rhine  by  Jourdan.  —  Pichegru's  Treason  .         .     639-651 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

The  Convention  (concluded).  —  Brittany  and  La  Vendee.  —  General  Hoche  in 
the  West.  —  Quiberon.  —  Constitution  of  the  Year  III.  —  Vendemiaire  13. 

—  Close  of  the  Convention ,     652-672 


LIST  OF  STEEL  ENGRAVINGS. 

VOL.  I. 

THE  PRINCESS  OF  LAMBALLE.     (See  p.  314) Frontispiece. 

MAP  OF  EUROPE  IN  1789 13 

VIEW  OF  COBLENTZ 213 

TOWN  HALL,  AUDENARDE 261 

SPEYER,  CATHEDRAL  AND  TOWN .        .        .  334 

TOWN  HALL,  Lou  VAIN 404 

MADAME  ROLAND 505 

TOWN  HALL,  COLOGNE 643 

CASTLE  OF  ARGENFELS,  ON  THE  RHINE 651 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

VOL.  I. 

Facing  Refer  to 

page  page 

SYMBOLIC  REPRESENTATION  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.     (Frontispiece.)  .      13  13 

LOMENIE  DE  BRIENNE 15  15 

NECKER 21  21 

MIRABEAU  AND  DREUX-BR£ZE 25  25 

THE  PEOPLE  ARMING  THEMSELVES  AT  THE  INVALIDES    ...      35  36 

ROBESPIERRE 71  72 

INVASION  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY  JUNE  20     .        .        .        .        .        .75  73 

MARIE  ANTOINETTE 77  .     77 

BEAUMARCHAIS 99  307 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN 99  99 

THE  LITTLE  TRIANON  OF  MARIE  ANTOINETTE         ....  101  101 

HEROIC  ACTION  OF  LIEUTENANT  DESILLES 125  124 

THE  PANTHEON,  OR  CHURCH  OF  ST.  GENEVIEVE    ....  145  145 

DUKE  OF  CHOISEUL .  165  164 

BARON  MALOUET 195  199 

CALONNE 195  195 

Louis  XVI 201  201 

CITY  HALL  OF  VALENCIENNES 249  249 

SANTERR0 257  256 

ENROLMENT  OF  VOLUNTEERS 269  269 

THE  MARKET  SQUARE  (LILLE  OR  LISLE) 281  280 

THE  ROYAL  FAMILY  TAKES  REFUGE  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY      .        .  289  288 

DANTON ;         .        .  295  295 

THE  TEMPLE 299  298 

THE  LOUVRE * 299  486 

THE  HEAD  OF  THE  PRINCESS  DE  LAMBALLE  CARRIED  THROUGH  PARIS  313  314 

VIEW  OF  VERDUN 325  325 

MARAT 347  346 

SAINT-JUST  .  355  355 


xii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

THE  ROYAL  FAMILY  IN  THE  TEMPLE 359 

BARERE 375 

MADAME  ELISABETH         .  377 

THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 393 

GENERAL  DUMOURIEZ 409 

DEATH  OF  MARAT 461 

CHARLOTTE  CORDAY 465 

THE  GIRONDINS  LEAVING  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  TRIBUNAL  .        .  503 

THE  DUKE  OF  ORLEANS  CARRIED  TO  EXECUTION   ....  507 

D'AUTICHAMPS 527 

DE  LA  ROCHEJAQUELEIN          .        .        .        .  .        .        .  527 

LE  MANS 531 

BONAPARTE  AT  THE  AGE  OF  TWENTY-FOUR    .        .        .        .        .  535 

GOBEL  ABDICATES  THE  EPISCOPATE 551 

THE  GODDESS  OF  REASON  CARRIED  THROUGH  PARIS       .        .        .  553 

CECILE  RENAULT 593 

MADAME  TALLIEN 599 

TALLIEN  DENOUNCES  ROBESPIERRE 603 

ROBESPIERRE  WOUNDED  AND  ARRESTED 607 

EXECUTION  OF  ROBESPIERRE  AND  HIS  FELLOW-CONSPIRATORS    .  609 

THE  PRISONERS  LIBERATED 611 

BOISSI-D'ANGLAS  AND  THE  HEAD  OF  FERAUD     ....  635 

THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  SECTIONS  BY  BONAPARTE      ....  671 


ERRATUM. 

Page  512,  line  6,  for  twelve  hundred  thousand  read  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand. 


A  POPULAR 

HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

FROM  1789   TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BEGINNING    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  —  THE    STATES-GENERAL.  —  THE 
OATH   OF   THE  TENNIS-COURT. 

May  4  to  June  17,  1789. 

rTIHE  immediate  cause  of  the  French  Revolution  was  a  financial 
I  one.  Its  outbreak  occurred  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Louis  XVI.,  but  its  source  lay  far  back  in  former  reigns.  From 
the  day  of  the  decease  of  Louis  XIV.  the  struggle  had  become  in- 
evitable. The  French  nation,  although  divided  into  three  orders, 
which  were  again  subdivided  into  several  classes,  in  fact  consisted 
of  but  two  distinct  orders,  —  the  privileged  and  the  unprivileged,  — 
the  latter  embracing  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  On  this  class  fell 
the  chief  burdens  of  the  state.  It  was  compelled  to  pay  feudal 
service  to  the  lords,  tithes  to  the  priests,  and  taxes  to  the  king. 
Its  members  enjoyed  no  rights,  had  no  share  in  the  government, 
and  were  admitted  to  no  public  employments. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  France  during  its  most  imposing 
period,  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV. ;  but  the  national  vanity  was 
gratified  by  the  military  glories  of  the  Grande  Monarque,  by  the 
splendor  of  his  court,  and  by  the  intellectual  triumphs  of  that 
Augustan  age  of  French  literature. 

The  very  efforts  made  by  Louis  XIV.  to  diffuse  literary  taste  and 
intelligence  among  his  people  sowed  broadcast  the  seeds  of  revo- 


14  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  I. 

lution.  The  people  were  learning  to  think  for  themselves.  The 
Third  Estate  began  to  discuss  the  evils  under  which  it  had  so  long 
groaned,  and  to  seek  a  remedy.  Beneath  this  outward  splendor 
and  prosperity  lay  a  volcano,  which  was  erelong  to  break  forth, 
and  rend  asunder  the  whole  social  fabric. 

A  strong,  firm  hand  was  needed  to  grasp  the  sceptre  so  trium- 
phantly borne  by  Louis  XIV.  for  seventy  years ;  but  Louis  XV.  was 
as  weak  as  he  was  vicious.  His  reign  is  the  most  humiliating,  the 
most  deplorable,  in  French  history.  "It  was  a  reign  unredeemed 
by  any  splendor  or  by  any  virtue."  Royalty  lost  its  prestige,  the 
constituted  authorities  sank  into  contempt.  At  the  death  of  Louis 

XV.  France  could  scarce  be  reckoned  among  the  great  powers  of 
Europe.     Its  foreign  colonies  had  been  wrested  from  it,  its  navy 
was  ruined,  its  treasury  was  exhausted.     The  people,  grown  restive 
under  ages  of  oppression,  were  full  of  murmurings  and  discontent. 

Through  the  culture  of  literature  and  philosophy  the  nation  sought 
to  cover  the  disgrace  which  had  befallen  her  arms.  But  with  the 
spread  of  philosophical  doctrines  was  diffused  a  general  desire  for 
reform,  which  manifested  itself  in  various  ways  as  soon  as  Louis 

XVI.  —  a  prince,  young,  inexperienced,  but  sincerely  wishing  the 
good  of  his  people  —  ascended  the  throne.     He  seemed  willing  to 
lead  the  popular  movement,  but  his  heart  was  better  than  his  head. 
He  had  neither  the  firmness,  the  energy,  nor  the  ability  to  carry 
out  the  great  designs  of  those  who  sought  to  reform  France;   he 
was  influenced  and  controlled  by  the  court  party,  which  hated  inno- 
vation, and  held  firmly  to  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  princes. 
The  very  aid  he  gave  the  American  colonies  in  their  revolt  against 
England  hastened  the  French  Kevolution,  and  the  final  triumph  of 
the  colonies  encouraged  France  to  seek  to  win  her  own  freedom. 

An  urgent  demand  arose  for  the  convocation  of  the  States-Gen- 
eral, a  body  which,  including  direct  representatives  from  the  people, 
might  redress  the  public  grievances.  In  former  times  this  ancient 
assembly  had  always  been  convoked  at  the  most  critical  crises  of  the 
nation's  history,  but  for  the  past  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  years 
it  had  not  been  summoned.  Its  last  session  had  been  in  1614 


LOMEXIE  DE  r.RIEXNE. 


1789.]  .       THE  STATES-GENERAL.  15 

At  the  Assembly  of  Notables  convened  in  1787,  a  communication 
on  the  state  of  the  finances  being  demanded,  a  noble  counsellor  had 
very  pertinently  said,  "  It  is  not  states  of  finance  we  want,  it  is 
States-General ! "  The  whole  country  was  in  a  ferment.  "  From 
stagnant  chaos  France  has  passed  to  tumultuous  chaos,"  wrote 
Mirabeau. 

The  opening  of  the  States-General,  several  times  delayed,  was  at 
length  fixed  definitely  by  Lominie  de  Brienne  for  May  5,  1789. 
Immediately  after  this  act  he  retired,  amid  the  execrations  of  the 
people. 

On  the  evening  of  May  4,  the  Three  Orders,  the  king,  the  queen, 
and  the  court,  repaired  to  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  at  Versailles 
to  hear  the  Veni  Creator.  The  imposing  cortege  then  proceeded  to 
the  church  of  St.  Louis.  Throngs  of  people  followed,  animated  by 
great  expectation  and  by  great  hope.  For  the  moment  a  common 
enthusiasm  united  hearts,  if  minds  were  far  asunder. 

This  division  appeared  even  in  the  ceremonial  imposed  by  the 
court.  The  deputies  of  the  Commons  wore  a  modest  and  sombre 
costume,  the  lawyer's  black  coat  and  short  cloak ;  the  noblesse  glit- 
tered in  laces,  plumes,  and  jewels.  The  people  loudly  cheered  the 
Tiers  fitat,  but  had  only  silence  for  the  nobles.  The  king  was 
applauded,  but  murmurs  rose  against  the  queen,  filling  her  with 
resentment  and  chagrin. 

About  noon,  the  king  opened  the  States-General  in  the  vast  hall 
of  Les  Menus  at  Versailles.  More  than  eleven  hundred  deputies 
were  present,  five  hundred  and  ninety-five  of  them  belonging  to  the 
Commons.  Men  connected  with  the  law  formed  at  least  three 
fifths  of  the  representatives  of  the  Third  Estate.  This  class,  edu- 
cated, energetic,  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
had  sustained  the  parliaments  in  their  opposition  to  the  court,  but 
had  abandoned  them  when  they  sought  to  uphold  privileges  ;  it  had 
seriously  reflected  upon  all  questions  of  policy  and  legislation,  and 
was  to  be,  in  some  sort,  the  leader  of  the  Eevolution. 

The  courtiers,  who  had  arranged  the  ceremonial,  as  if  to  humili- 
ate the  Third  Estate,  made  that  body  enter  through  a  back  door, 


16  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.     .  [CHAP.  I. 

•while  the  king,  the  clergy,  and  the  noblesse  entered  in  pomp  through 
the  front  door.  The  king  made  a  speech,  in  which  he  declared  that 
he  had  revived  the  custom  of  convoking  the  States-General,  long 
fallen  into  disuse,  in  the  hope  that  the  kingdom  might  derive  new 
strength  from  that  measure,  and  the  nation  a  new  source  of  happi- 
ness ;  but  he,  at  the  same  time,  censured  what  he  called  "  the  gen- 
eral disquiet  and  the  exaggerated  desire  for  innovations." 

When  the  king  had  ceased  speaking,  the  clergy  and  the  noblesse, 
as  usual,  put  on  their  hats.  The  deputies  of  the  Third  Estate,  in  the 
old  sessions  of  the  States-General,  had  remained  uncovered.  Now, 
like  the  two  privileged  orders,  they  resumed  their  hats.  The  time 
had  gone  by  when  the  deputies  of  the  people  knelt  as  they  addressed 
the  king,  and  remained  uncovered  in  the  royal  presence.  The  king, 
not  wishing  to  sanction  this  abolition  of  the  privilege  of  the  two 
first  orders,  laid  aside  his  hat,  thus  obliging  all  the  others  to  follow 
his  example. 

The  keeper  of  the  seals  and  the  comptroller-general  spoke  after 
the  king.  Necker  made  a  long  speech  upon  the  finances,  estimat- 
ing the  annual  deficit  at  fifty  millions. 

The  first  and  most  important  question  to  be  solved  was  whether 
the  votes  should  be  taken  by  orders  or  by  the  head.  The  deputies 
of  the  Third  Estate  doubled  in  number  those  of  the  nobility  and 
the  clergy,  and  if  the  vote  were  taken  by  orders,  they  would  lose  the 
numerical  advantage  they  possessed. 

The  two  higher  orders  offered  to  renounce  their  privileges  in  the 
matter  of  imposts,  and  to  aid  in  restoring  the  finances  of  the  realm. 
But  upon  all  other  questions  they  assumed  a  feeble  attitude  which 
was  a  sort  of  abdication. 

The  authorities  ceased  trying  to  direct  the  popular  movement, 
but  they  did  not  cease  embarrassing  it.  May  7,  a  decree  of  the 
king's  council  suppressed  the  "Journal  of  the  States-General,"  which 
Mirabeau  had  just  begun  to  publish.  The  same  day  the  Paris 
Assembly  of  Electors  unanimously  declared  in  favor  of  liberty  of 
the  press.  Mirabeau  continued  his  journal  under  another  title. 
The  king's  council  dared  not  execute  its  decree. 


1789.]  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  17 

On  the  morning  of  May  6,  the  Third  Estate  met  again  in  the 
hall  of  Les  Menus.  The  clergy  and  the  noblesse  did  not  appear, 
and,  after  several  hours  of  waiting,  the  Third  Estate  was  informed 
that  the  privileged  orders,  each  gathered  in  the  hall  assigned  for  its 
especial  reunions,  had  just  voted  to  verify  the  powers  of  its  mem- 
bers separately.  The  Third  cared  little  for  the  decisions  of  the 
privileged  orders,  and  the  next  day  authorized  some  of  its  members 
to  officially  invite  deputies  from  the  clergy  and  the  noblesse  to 
meet  with  it  and  begin  the  verification  of  the  powers  in  common. 
The  clergy  offered  to  appoint  commissioners  to  settle  the  difficulty, 
but  the  noblesse  refused. 

June  10,  the  clergy  not  having  yet  come  to  any  decisive  action, 
Sieyes,  deputy  of  Paris,  proposed  to  address  to  the  two  classes,  the 
clergy  and  the  nobility,  a  final  summons  to  appear  in  the  hall  of  the 
States-General  to  unite  in  a  common  verification  of  the  powers, 
declaring  that  the  general  summons  of  the  bailages  would  take 
place  within  an  hour,  and  that  the  Commons  would  act  as  States- 
General,  whether  the  clergy  and  the  nobility  were  present  or  not 

The  motion,  slightly  modified,  was  adopted  by  an  immense  ma- 
jority. The  other  orders  were  invited,  not  summoned. 

The  invitation  was  given  on  the  morning  of  June  12.  The  two 
orders  replied  that  they  would  deliberate  upon  it  The  Commons 
decided  to  wait  until  evening.  At  seven  o'clock  they  began  the  veri- 
fication of  the  powers,  and  continued  the  work  during  the  following 
days.  From  the  13th  to  the  15th,  a  dozen  deputies  from  the  lower 
clergy  came  one  after  another  to  join  the  Third  Estate ;  among  them 
was  the  cure  Gregoire. 

June  15,  the  verification  of  the  powers  of  all  the  members  pres- 
ent being  finished,  the  moment  had  come  for  the  Assembly  to  be 
constituted.  It  was  highly  important  that,  if  the  court  wished  to 
dissolve  the  States-General,  it  should  find  itself  opposed  by  a  legal 
power  and  an  organized  body. 

What  title  should  the  Assembly  assume  ?  This  was  a  question 
of  immense  importance.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  the  baptism  of  the 
Revolution  which  was  now  taking  place.  A  name  was  being  sought. 
2 


18  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  I. 

All  felt  themselves  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  world.  In  the  first 
number  of  a  journal  entitled  "  The  Dawn,"  Barrere,  a  young  deputy, 
had  said  to  the  representatives  of  the  Commons,  "  You  are  called 
upon  to  recommence  history." 

Many  titles  were  proposed,  but  the  debate  was  principally  be- 
tween the  two  men  who  had  done  the  most  to  bring  on  the  Revolu- 
tion,  —  Sieyes  and  Mirabeau. 

Sieyes  proposed  the  title  of  "  Assembly  of  Recognized  and  Veri- 
fied Representatives  of  the  French  Nation."  This  title  exactly 
expressed  Sieyes's  idea ;  it  obliterated  the  Three  Orders,  to  recog- 
nize only  the  nation,  but  it  contained  too  many  words.  Mirabeau 
proposed  that  they  call  themselves  "  Assembly  of  the  People's  Rep- 
resentatives." 

Mirabeau  persisted  in  his  fiery  opposition  to  Sieyes.  The  latter, 
cold  and  inflexible  as  iron,  went  on  regardless  of  any  obstacle,  and 
summed  up  his  bold  ideas  in  brief,  clear,  and  trenchant  words. 
Mirabeau  broke  out  into  a  discourse  of  tumultuous  and  contradic- 
tory eloquence.  He  had  a  fever  in  his  soul  as  well  as  in  his  body. 
He  who  had  always  invoked  the  Revolution,  now  that  it  was  about 
to  appear,  was  afraid  of  it.  He  had  desired  the  Revolution  with 
royalty  and  through  royalty ;  and  now  he  saw  what  others  in  gen- 
eral did  not  see,  —  that  it  was  about  to  take  place  in  spite  of 
royalty  and  against  royalty.  He  recoiled  before  the  redoubtable 
struggles  and  the  immense  catastrophe  which  he  foresaw. 

The  session  became  very  stormy  on  the  evening  of  June  16, 
during  the  vote  upon  the  different  propositions.  The  minority, 
like  Mirabeau,  adverse  to  decisive  resolutions,  was  violent  in  its 
opposition. 

The  next  morning,  June  16,  as  they  were  about  to  vote,  Sieyes 
rose  and  said,  "  I  have  changed  my  motion  ;  I  propose  the  title  of 
NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY." 

This  title  was  the  true,  the  only  one:  it  had  often  been  employed; 
it  had  occurred  even  in  the  decree  of  the  council  of  August  8,  1788, 
which  had  announced  the  convocation  of  the  States-General.  Two 
deputies  had  already  proposed  it.  When  Sieyes  had  spoken,  it 


1789.]  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  19 

seemed  that  new  light  had  dawned ;  all  were  astonished  at  having 
hesitated.  His  motion  was  adopted  by  a  majority  of  four  hundred 
and  ninety-one  votes  against  ninety,  and  amid  the  acclamations  of 
the  public  who  thronged  the  vast  hall 

The  NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY  declared  that  the  work  of  national  res- 
toration should  begin  at  once  and  through  the  deputies  present ; 
that  it  should  be  pursued  without  interruption  or  impediment ;  that 
whenever  the  absent  deputies  chose  to  appear,  they  should  be  cor- 
dially received. 

This  day  was  the  last  of  the  Ancient  Regime.  This  day  demo- 
cratic unity  replaced  the  Three  Orders  of  the  ancient  society,  and 
the  sovereignty  of  the  nation  replaced  the  sovereignty  of  the  king. 
This  day  witnessed  the  carrying  out  of  those  principles  which  are 
the  political  and  social  gospel  of  the  new  world.  When  we  stray 
from  the  principles  of  1789,  it  is  night ;  when  we  return  to  them, 
it  is  day.  To  assure,  to  develop,  and  to  complete  these  principles, 
is  the  work  to  which  the  new  generations  are  called. 

This  History  will  be  only  the  history  of  the  success  or  the  over- 
throw of  the  principles  of  1789. 

The  new  law  was  proclaimed ;  it  must  now  be  executed ;  the  na- 
tional will  must  be  obeyed.  The  Assembly  sought  to  effect  this  by 
the  following  decree :  — 

"  The  National  Assembly,  regarding  taxes  not  assented  to  by  the 
nation  as  wholly  illegal,  declares,  provisionally,  that  imposts  and 
contributions,  although  illegally  established,  shall  continue  to  be 
levied  until  the  day  of  the  separation  of  this  Assembly,  from  what- 
ever cause  such  separation  may  occur. 

"  After  which  day,  the  National  Assembly  decrees  that  all  levy- 
ing of  taxes  not  formally  and  freely  granted  by  this  Assembly  shall 
entirely  cease  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  realm." 

The  Assembly  then  declared  that,  as  soon  as  in  concert  with  the 
king  it  should  have  decided  upon  the  articles  of  the  Constitution,  it 
would  attend  to  the  examination  and  consolidation  of  the  public 
debt,  for  the  present  placing  the  creditors  of  the  state  under  the 
safeguard  of  the  nation's  honor. 


20  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  I. 

A  committee  was  soon  appointed  to  consult  as  to  the  causes  of, 
and  remedies  for,  the  dearth  now  afflicting  the  land,  and  the  king 
was  implored  to  place  all  possible  information  in  the  hands  of  this 
committee. 

This  great  national  council  remained  moderate  in  its  energy.  It 
made  decrees  like  a  sovereign,  but  it  extended  a  hand  to  royalty, 
asking  its  aid  in  the  work  of  the  Constitution. 

The  energy  and  resolution  shown  by  the  Assembly  caused  great 
agitation  at  court  and  among  the  privileged  orders.  June  19,  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  who,  since  the  opening  of  the  States-General,  had 
shown  himself  a  sympathizer  with  the  Third  Estate,  proposed  that 
the  nobles  repair  in  a  body  to  the  hall  of  the  States-General.  This 
would  have  been  to  unite  with  the  National  Assembly.  His  mo- 
tion did  not  pass,  but  it  received  twenty-four  votes.  The  Duke 
was  so  little  fitted  for  the  great  role  forced  upon  him,  that  he  fainted 
from  excessive  agitation. 

In  the  chamber  of  the  clergy  there  was  a  majority  of  a  few  votes 
in  favor  of  reunion. 

During  this  time  there  was  a  violent  tumult  around  the  king.  v 
The  leaders  of  the  higher  clergy  had  thrown  themselves  at  his  feet, 
declaring  that  all  was  over  with  religion ;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
parliamentary  leaders  declared  to  him  that  all  was  over  with  the 
monarchy  if  the  States-General  were  not  dissolved.  The  queen  and 
the  Count  d'Artois  passionately  sustained  them. 

Necker,  finding  that  the  Third  Estate  had  gone  so  far  beyond  him, 
advised  the  king  to  adopt  what  he  believed  to  be  a  middle  course : 
to  annul  the  Assembly's  decree,  to  take  from  it  its  title  of  National 
Assembly,  to  ordain  the  reunion  of  the  Three  Orders  only  for  busi- 
ness common  to  all ;  to  thus  do  again  by  royal  authority  what  the 
Third  Estate  had  done  without  it;  to  proclaim  the  abolition  of 
privileges  in  the  matter  of  taxes,  and  the  eligibility  of  all  citizens  to 
all  employments ;  finally,  to  allow  the  modification  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  kingdom  by  the  assembly  of  the  States-General,  pro- 
vided the  Legislative  Corps  should  remain  composed,  at  least,  of 
two  chambers. 


1789.]  THE  OATH   OF  THE  TENNIS-COURT.  21 

Partisans  of  the  English  Constitution  had  suggested  this  plan  to 
Necker. 

Necker's  plan  was  deliberated  upon  in  the  council  of  the  minis- 
ters. Louis  XVI.  accepted  it,  at  the  request  of  the  queen.  The 
decision  was  adjourned ;  the  council  decreed  only  a  royal  session  of 
the  States-General  on  the  22d. 

On  the  morning  of  the  20th,  when  the  National  Assembly  wished 
to  meet  as  usual,  it  found  the  hall  closed  by  royal  edict.  A  placard 
declared  the  closing  of  the  hall  necessary  on  account  of  preparations 
for  the  royal  session. 

Armed  soldiers  guarded  the  doors.  Bailie,  the  president  of  the 
National  Assembly,  protested  in  the  name  of  his  indignant  col- 
leagues, and  declared  that  the  Assembly  would  hold  its  session  in 
spite  of  all  One  hundred  and  seventy-four  years  previous,  the 
Third  Estate  had  in  like  manner  found  its  place  of  assembly  closed 
by  order  of  the  court.  The  body  had  withdrawn,  humiliated,  dis- 
consolate, and  had  not  met  again. 

But  1789  was  a  long  way  from  1615. 

The  crowd,  which  all  the  way  from  Paris  to  Versailles  pressed 
around  the  Assembly,  saw  the  representatives  of  the  nation  wander- 
ing about  under  a  driving  rain  in  quest  of  a  place  of  reunion. 
They  at  last  found  asylum  in  a  tennis-court  of  the  little  street 
St.  Francois,  and  held  their  deliberations  standing,  in  this  bare,  un- 
furnished enclosure,  in  the  presence  of  the  populace,  who  thronged 
the  galleries,  the  windows,  and  the  neighboring  streets. 

The  most  ardent  wished  the  Assembly  to  repair  to  Paris.  This 
would  be  to  break  with  royalty,  and  begin  an  open  conflict.  Mou- 
nier,  wishing  to  defeat  so  extreme  a  measure,  proposed  another,  very 
firm  and  very  just,  but  one  which  did  not  conquer  all  resistance. 
It  was  the  decree  that  follows :  — 

"The  National  Assembly,  considering  itself  called  to  determine 
the  Constitution  of  the  kingdom,  to  effect  the  regeneration  of  public 
order,  and  to  uphold  the  true  principles  of  the  monarchy;  declaring 
that  nothing  shall  prevent  its  continuing  its  deliberations,  and  that 
wherever  its  members  are  reunited,  there  is  the  National  Assembly, — 


22  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  I. 

"Decrees  that  all  the  members  of  this  Assembly  shall  this  instant 
take  a  solemn  oath  never  to  separate  until  the  Constitution  of  the 
kingdom  be  established  and  confirmed  upon  solid  foundations." 

Applause  broke  forth  from  all  sides.  President  Bailie  claimed 
the  honor  of  being  first  to  swear,  and  he  pronounced  the  oath  in  a 
voice  so  loud  and  clear  that  the  people  outside  heard,  and  replied 
with  shouts  of  enthusiasm. 

Within  the  hall  and  outside,  people  cried,  "Vive  le  Hoi!"  as  if 
to  still  offer  peace  to  royalty. 

The  deputies  took  the  oath,  all  save  one.  The  eighty-nine 
opposers  of  the  17th  of  June  this  time  united  with  the  majority. 

David,  an  illustrious  painter  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, has  reproduced  this  grand  scene  in  his  picture,  THE  OATH  OF 
THE  TENNIS-COURT. 

All  the  eminent  men  who  took  part  here  figure  in  his  work,  with 
attitudes  conformed  to  their  characters. 

To  dissolve  the  Assembly  after  such  an  act,  had  become  impos- 
sible. The  court,  greatly  troubled,  delayed  the  royal  session  one 
day,  and  debated  in  presence  of  the  king  as  to  what  should  be  done 
in  this  session. 

After  the  Oath  of  the  Tennis-Court,  the  Assembly  had  adjourned 
to  Monday,  June  22.  The  royal  session  not  having  taken  place 
that  day,  the  Assembly  wished  to  return  to  the  tennis-court. 
Count  d'Artois,  second  brother  of  the  king,  by  a  puerile  imperti- 
nence, had  caused  the  hall  to  be  retained  for  a  play.  The  Assembly 
installed  itself  in  the  naves  of  the  St.  Louis  Church.  Here  the 
majority  of  the  clergy  came  to  rejoin  it,  having  at  their  head  five 
bishops,  among  them  the  Archbishop  of  Vienne,  president  of  the 
states  of  Dauphine  which  had  begun  the  Revolution. 

The  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  members  of  the  majority  of  the 
clergy  were  received  with  acclamation,  as  well  as  the  two  noble 
deputies  of  Dauphine"  who  followed  them. 

On  the  morning  of  the  23d,  the  deputies  repaired  to  the  royal 
session.  They  had  to  wait  a  long  time  exposed  to  the  rain,  these 
members  of  the  Third  Estate,  before  being  admitted  through  a  back 


1789.]  THE  OATH  OF  THE  TENNIS-COURT.  23 

door,  while  the  clergy  and  the  nobility  entered  through  the  front 
door,  and  took  their  places  in  the  hall 

The  king  appeared  with  his  retinue.  Necker  was  not  there.  His 
plan  had  been  modified  and  distorted  by  the  queen's  party  and  the 
Count  d'Artois,  and  he  did  not  wish  to  take  the  responsibility  of 
what  was  about  to  happen. 

The  king  opened  the  session  with  a  brief  speech,  announcing  his 
intention  of  ending  the  unfortunate  divisions  in  the  States-General 
which  had  prevented  the  realization  of  his  plans  for  the  welfare  of 
his  people.  He  then  caused  the  following  declaration  to  be  read: — 

"The  king  desires  that  the  ancient  distinction  of  the  Three 
Orders  be  preserved  in  its  integrity,  as  essentially  in  unity  with  the 
Constitution  of  the  kingdom ;  that  the  deputies  of  the  Three  Orders, 
forming  three  chambers,  and  empowered  through  the  sovereign's 
approbation,  alone  be  considered  as  forming  the  body  of  the  nation's 
representatives.  Consequently,  the  king  declares  null  the  delibera- 
tions taken  by  the  order  of  the  Third  Estate,  June  17,  and  also 
those  which  may  have  followed,  as  illegal  and  unconstitutional" 

The  king  also  exhorted  the  Three  Orders  to  unite  for  the  safety 
of  the  state,  even  were  it  only  for  the  present  convocation  of  the 
States-General,  and  to  deliberate  upon  affairs  of  common  interest. 

The  king  formally  excepted  from  affairs  which  were  to  be  treated 
in  common  those  pertaining  to  the  ancient  and  constitutional  rights 
of  the  Three  Orders,  the  form  of  constitution  to  be  given  to  future 
States-General,  feudal  and  manorial  estates,  the  pecuniary  and  hon- 
orary rights  of  the  two  first  orders. 

The  especial  consent  of  the  clergy  would  be  necessary  for  all  per- 
taining to  ecclesiastic  discipline,  also  to  the  control  of  orders  and  of 
secular  and  religious  bodies  (priests  and  monks). 

The  king  expressly  forbade  at  their  deliberations  the  presence  of 
any  persons  other  than  the  deputies  of  the  Three  Orders. 

Thus  the  king  excluded  from  the  common  deliberations  subjects 
of  the  most  vital  interest  to  his  people,  —  the  questions  of  feudal 
rights  and  convents  ;  and  he  forbade  the  sessions  to  that  public 
whose  sympathy  sustained  the  Third  Estate. 


24  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  I. 

The  king  called  the  attention  of  the  Assembly  to  the  favors  he 
had  granted  his  people.  Never  had  king  done  so  much  for  any 
nation  ;  and  those  who,  by  exaggerated  pretensions  or  unreasonable 
difficulties,  should  persist  in  retarding  the  effect  of  his  paternal 
intentions,  would  render  themselves  unworthy  of  being  regarded  as 
Frenchmen. 

He  had  a  second  declaration  read,  promising  that  no  new  impost 
should  be  ordained,  no  ancient  one  repealed,  without  the  consent  of 
the  representatives  of  the  nation.  He  also  asked  the  advice  of  the 
States-General  as  to  the  ordering  of  the  finances,  and  the  securities 
to  be  given  to  the  creditors  of  the  state. 

He  signified  his  intention  of  sanctioning  the  proposal  of  the  clergy 
and  noblesse  to  renounce  their  privileges  in  the  matter  of  taxes. 

He  declared  that  all  peculiar  rights  should  continue  to  be  re- 
spected, and  under  the  term  "  peculiar  rights "  he  included  tithes, 
annual  taxes,  feudal  and  manorial  claims. 

He  invited  the  States-General  to  search  out  and  propose  to  him 
means  of  conciliating  the  abolition  of  Lettres  de  CacJiet  with  the 
public  safety,  and  also  means  of  conciliating  the  liberty  of  the 
press  with  the  respect  due  to  the  religion,  the  customs,  and  the 
honor  of  the  citizens. 

He  furthermore  urged  the  States-General  to  present  to  him 
projects  for  the  reform  of  imposts,  for  the  suppression  of  interior 
customs,  for  judicial  reform,  for  the  abolition  of  the  bondage  of 
mortmain. 

He  announced  the  establishment  of  provincial  governments  in 
all  the  provinces. 

He  promised  never,  without  the  consent  of  the  Three  Orders 
taken  separately,  to  annul  any  proceedings  sanctioned  by  his  author- 
ity during  the  present  holding  of  the  States-General,  and  he  ended 
by  expressly  signifying  his  wish  to  preserve  intact  the  institution 
of  the  army,  and  the  royal  power  over  the  military. 

From  the  language  of  these  two  declarations,  it  was  evident  that 
the  king  still  considered  himself  invested  with  the  sole  law-making 
power,  and  would  ask  advice  of  the  Assembly  only  in  the  matter 


MIRABEAU  AND  DKEUX-BKEZE 


1789.]  THE  OATH  OF  THE  TENNIS-COURT.  25 

of  taxes.  The  institutions  he  designed  to  found  were  merely 
"  benefits  "  he  was  granting  his  people. 

The  majority  of  the  nobles  and  the  minority  of  the  clergy  ap- 
plauded The  Third  Estate  maintained  a  profound  silence. 

The  king  added,  with  his  own  mouth,  that,  if  the  Assembly 
were  to  abandon  him  in  his  efforts  for  the  public  good,  he  should 
act  alone  for  the  welfare  of  his  people,  and  should  consider  himself 
their  only  true  representative. 

"  None  of  your  projects,"  added  he,  "  none  of  your  ordinances,  can 
have  the  authority  of  law  without  my  special  approbation.  I  com- 
mand you,  gentlemen,  to  adjourn  immediately,  and  to  appear  to- 
morrow morning,  each  in  the  chamber  appropriated  to  his  order,  to 
resume  there  the  usual  sessions." 

The  king  left.  The  nobility  and  a  part  of  the  clergy  followed 
him.  The  Third  Estate  remained  immovable. 

The  Marquis  de  Dreux-Breze,  grand  master  of  ceremonies,  came 
and  said  to  the  president  of  the  Third  Estate:  "Monsieur,  you 
have  heard  the  king's  order  ? " 

"Monsieur,"  replied  Bailie,  "I  cannot  dissolve  the  Assembly 
until  it  has  deliberated  upon  the  matter."  And,  turning  to  his  col- 
leagues, he  added :  "  I  believe  that  the  assembled  nation  can  receive 
no  command." 

Then  Mirabeau,  who  had  but  lately  faltered  in  the  solemn  debate 
of  June  16,  was  seized  with  that  same  grand  transport  that  had 
come  over  him  in  the  Provencal  elections.  Fire  flashed  from  his 
eyes.  "  Monsieur,"  cried  he  to  Bre'ze',  "  we  have  heard  the  inten- 
tions that  others  have  suggested  to  the  king.  Go  tell  those  who 
sent  you  that  we  are  here  by  the  power  of  the  nation,  and  that 
nothing  but  the  power  of  bayonets  will  drive  us  away." 

A  general  murmur  of  applause  arose. 

The  master  of  ceremonies,  agitated,  crestfallen,  went  out  back- 
wards from  the  presence  of  the  orator  of  the  sovereign  nation,  as  it 
was  etiquette  to  go  from  the  presence  of  the  king. 

Camus,  deputy  from  Paris,  proposed  that  the  Assembly  declare 
its  persistence  in  its  former  decrees,  those  just  annulled  by  the  king. 


26  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  I. 

"  We  are  to-day  what  we  were  yesterday,"  said  Sieyes. 

The  motion  of  Camus  passed  unanimously.  Then,  upon  Mira- 
beau's  motion,  the  Assembly  declared  the  person  of  each  of  its  mem- 
bers inviolable,  and  that  any  individual  or  any  tribunal  which  should 
dare  pursue  or  arrest  a  deputy,  by  any  order  whatsoever,  for  reason 
of  anything  he  had  done  or  said  at  the  States-General,  would  be  a 
traitor  to  the  nation,  guilty  of  capital  offence,  and  that  the  National 
Assembly  would  take  the  necessary  measures  for  his  punishment. 

A  small  number  of  the  clergy  voted  with  the  Assembly. 

Meantime,  the  nobility,  who  believed  all  won,  had  gone  up  to  the 
palace  to  thank  the  queen  and  the  Count  d'Artois.  Marie  Antoi- 
nette, reconciled  to  the  nobles,  brought  her  son  in  her  arms  to  them, 
as  formerly  her  mother,  Maria  Theresa,  had  brought  her  infant  son, 
Joseph  II,  the  brother  of  Marie  Antoinette,  to  the  Hungarian  no- 
bles. She  declared  that  she  gave  him  to  the  nobility  as  to  the 
firmest  support  of  the  throne. 

This  was  the  little  dauphin  whom  the  royalists  have  called  Louis 
XVII.,  and  who  died  in  the  Temple  prison. 

Louis  XVI.  was  not  so  joyous.  The  silence  of  the  Third  Estate 
in  the  Assembly,  and  of  the  crowd  on  his  passage,  had  deeply  im- 
pressed him.  His  bearing  was  little  in  keeping  with  the  haughty 
words  that  had  been  suggested  to  him.  When  it  was  told  him  that 
the  Third  Estate  refused  to  leave  the  hall,  he  hesitated ;  then,  with 
embarrassment  and  ennui  rather  than  with  rage,  he  said,  "  Ah,  well ! 
let  them  stay  there." 

Menacing  clamors  followed  the  silence  of  the  people.  The  popu- 
lace, which  had  learned  that  Necker  had  presented  his  resignation, 
invaded  the  palace  court,  crying,  "Vive  Necker!"  The  queen, 
seized  with  terror,  sent  for  Necker,  and  implored  him  to  remain. 
Necker  went  in  person  to  announce  to  the  people  that  he  should 
remain,  and  the  day  ended  with  bonfires. 

To  retain  Necker  after  his  implicit  protest  against  the  declarations 
of  the  royal  session,  was  for  the  court  to  recognize  itself  conquered. 

On  the  25th  of  June,  forty-seven  noble  deputies,  with  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  at  their  head,  repaired  to  the  National  Assembly.  The 


1789.]  THE  OATH  OF  THE  TENNIS-COURT.  27 

next  day  the  National  Assembly  received  an  address  of  adhesion 
from  the  Assembly  of  the  Parisian  Electors,  who  had  met,  despite 
the  prohibition  of  the  government.  This  deputation  of  the  regular 
representatives  of  the  city  of  Paris  was  followed  by  another  deputa- 
tion sent  by  the  citizens,  who  for  some  time  had  habitually  met 
together  to  discuss  public  affairs,  in  the  garden  and  the  galleries  of 
the  Palais  Eoyal,  recently  constructed  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

The  excitement  in  Paris  was  extreme,  and  the  retention  of  Necker 
in  the  ministry  had  not  sufficed  to  appease  it.  There  was  great 
distrust  of  the  court,  which  had  stationed  bodies  of  soldiers  around 
Versailles  and  Paris.  On  the  25th  of  June,  the  day  when  the 
Assembly  of  Electors  met,  a  grave  event  happened  in  Paris.  The 
regiment  of  French  guards,  a  body  finely  disciplined  and  large  in 
numbers,  held  the  first  rank  in  the  national  infantry.  The  soldiers 
of  this  corps  revolted,  and  fraternized  with  the  people  at  the  Palais 
Eoyal.  In  his  declarations  of  the  23d,  the  king  had  said  that  he 
should  change  nothing  in  the  army  establishment ;  this  meant  that 
he  should  continue  to  give  all  the  offices  to  the  nobles.  The  sol- 
diers and  the  sergeants  replied  by  passing  over  to  the  populace. 

The  majority  of  the  noblesse  continued  to  protest  against  the 
National  Assembly.  A  rumor  spread  that  all  Paris  was  about  to 
march  upon  Versailles.  The  king  wrote,  inviting  the  order  of  the 
nobility  to  meet  the  two  other  orders  without  delay,  that  the  As- 
sembly of  the  States-General  might  consult  upon  subjects  of  interest 
to  the  nation.  The  nobles  still  resisted.  A  second  letter  from  the 
king  declared  that  the  safety  of  the  state  and  his  own  personal 
security  would  depend  upon  the  reunion.  On  the  27th,  the  nobility 
repaired  to  the  common  hall 

"  The  family  is  complete,"  said  President  Bailie ;  "  our  dissensions 
are  ended." 

The  populace  hastened  to  the  palace,  and  called  for  the  king  and 
queen,  who  appeared  on  the  balcony,  and  were  received  with  the 
acclamations,  "  Vive  le  roi !  Vive  la  reine  ! "  The  people,  as  well 
as  the  president  and  the  Assembly,  were  sincere,  and  wished  for 
peace;  but  all  portended  war. 


28  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IL 


CHAPTER  II. 

i 

THE   CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  —  THE  TAKING  OF  THE  BASTILLE. 
June  28  to  July  90,  1789. 

WITH  surprise  and  delight  the  public  saw  a  member  of  the 
Third  Estate,  a  wise  citizen,  presiding  over  prelates,  nobles, 
a  prince  of  the  blood,  and  a  cardinal,  in  the  assembly  of  the  three 
united  orders. 

The  union  was  only  seeming.  It  was  not  alone  through  fear 
that  the  court  had  decided  upon  it.  The  royalists  hoped  to  embar- 
rass the  labors  of  the  Assembly  and  subvert  its  projects,  by  intro- 
ducing into  its  midst  the  defenders  of  privileges. 

A  large  portion  of  the  nobility  and  the  clergy  maintained  a 
malevolent  attitude.  Many  openly  refused  to  take  their  seats,  and 
kept  away  from  the  deliberations.  Many  entered  protests,  founded 
upon  the  imperative  instructions  they  had  received  from  those  who 
had  elected  them. 

Many  deputies  proposed  to  annul  these  imperative  instructions. 
The  Assembly  did  more ;  upon  motion  of  Sieyes,  who  remarked  that 
it  was  for  each  deputy  to  know  the  pledges  he  had  made,  and  that 
the  Assembly  was  not  called  upon  to  inquire  into  them,  the  Assem- 
bly decreed  that  here  was  no  place  to  deliberate  upon  such  matters, 
and  proceeded  to  other  business.  The  ruling  sentiment  was  that 
these  imperative  instructions  were  subversive  of  the  unity  of  the 
nation. 

The  Assembly  felt  its  strength.  From  all  sides  it  received  the 
adhesion  of  France  to  its  first  acts. 

The  month's  presidency  of  Bailie*  having  expired,  the  position 
was  offered  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  He  refused  it,  feeling  himself 


1789.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  29 

incapable  of  these  great  functions.  Lefranc  de  Pompignan,  the 
former  president  of  the  patriotic  states  of  Dauphine,  was  chosen  in 
his  place. 

The  Assembly  named  a  committee  to  draw  up  a  constitution, 
and  then  gave  its  attention  to  the  grave  question  of  subsistence. 
Necker,  who  had  renewed  his  purchases  of  foreign  grains,  commu- 
nicated the  provident  measures  he  had  still  in  view. 

Paris  did  not  grow  calm.  July  1,  Parisian  delegates  claimed  the 
Assembly's  intervention  in  an  affair  which  had  taken  place  the 
day  before.  The  colonel  of  the  French  guards  had  incarcerated  in 
the  military  prison  of  the  Abbaye  eleven  of  the  soldiers  who  had 
fraternized  with  the  populace,  and  was  about  to  send  them,  with 
thieves  and  other  malefactors,  to  Bicetre.  Thousands  of  citizens 
had  forced  the  Abbaye  prison,  and  borne  away  the  eleven  soldiers  to 
the  Palais  Pioyal,  where  the  people  guarded  them,  and  stood  ready 
to  defend  them. 

The  Assembly  used  its  interposition  with  the  king,  imploring  his 
clemency,  and  the  king  promised  to  pardon  the  soldiers  as  soon  as 
order  was  restored.  The  soldiers  returned  to  prison  as  a  matter  of 
form,  but  were  soon  set  at  liberty.  The  king,  in  this  case,  had 
acted  wisely.  .Unhappily,  his  wife,  his  young  brother,  D'Artois, 
and  the  greater  part  of  those  around  him,  urged  him  more  than 
ever  to  violent  and  rash  projects  foreign  to  his  nature.  The  court 
conspired  against  the  nation.  July  8,  Mirabeau  energetically  de- 
nounced to  the  Assembly  the  movements  of  troops  which  were 
taking  place  on  all  sides  upon  Versailles  and  upon  Paris.  "  There 
are  already,"  said  he,  "  thirty-five  thousand  men,  mostly  of  foreign 
regiments ;  twenty  thousand  more  are  expected ;  trains  of  artillery 
follow  them ;  all  communications  are  made  sure ;  all  passages  are 
intercepted ;  preparations  for  war  strike  all  eyes,  and  fill  all  hearts 
with  indignation."  He  set  forth  the  possibility  of  frequent  con- 
flicts between  the  populace  and  the  army,  between  the  French  sol- 
diers and  the  foreign  soldiers;  and  he  concluded  from  this,  that 
the  king  should  be  implored  to  withdraw  the  soldiers,  and  order 
the  formation  of  citizen-guards  at  Paris  and  at  Versailles. 


30  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  II. 

The  Assembly  voted  an  address  to  the  king,  asking  the  withdrawal 
of  the  soldiers,  but  deferred  the  proposition  for  the  civil  guards. 
This  delay  was  a  weakness  and  a  fault ;  Mirabeau's  motion  should 
have  been  adopted  entire.  The  minister  Necker  himself  wished  the 
formation  of  the  civil  guard,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  national  guard. 
Mirabeau,  after  one  moment  of  hesitation  and  weakness  (the  15th 
and  16th  of  June),  the  conflict  once  fairly  begun,  had  resumed  all 
the  vigor  of  his  audacious  genius,  and  had  again  become,  as  Bailie 
said  of  him  in  his  memoirs,  "  the  element  of  power  in  the  National 
Assembly." 

The  king  replied  to  the  address  of  the  Assembly,  that  the  mission 
of  the  soldiers  was  only  to  restore  and  to  maintain  order  in  the 
capital  and  its  environs,  and  to  assure  the  deliberations  of  the 
States-General ;  that  if  their  presence  excited  suspicion,  he  would 
consent  to  remove  the  States-General  to  Noyon  or  to  Soissons, 
where  there  was  no  military  force. 

The  Assembly  did  not  fully  understand  the  alarming  nature  of 
this  response.  To  remove  that  body  to  a  distance  from  Paris,  its 
point  of  support,  to  a  little  town  where  it  would  be  at  the  mercy  of 
the  first  regiment  that  chanced  to  arrive,  was  a  most  absurd  propo- 
sition. 

Meantime,  the  Assembly  continued  its  deliberations  upon  the 
proper  order  of  the  articles  of  its  constitution  presented  by  the 
committee.  La  Fayette,  who  hitherto  had  taken  no  active  part  in 
the  Assembly,  because  hampered  by  the  instructions  he  had  received 
from  the  Auvergne  nobility,  now  came  forward  as  a  leader,  proposing 
to  begin  with  an  expression  of  those  general  truths  from  which  all 
institutions  should  proceed,  and  by  formulating  as  a  preamble  to 
the  constitution,  a  declaration  of  the  rights  of  the  man  and  the 
citizen. 

While  this  discussion  was  going  forward,  danger  was  at  the  gates; 
great  events  were  hastening  on. 

July  10,  at  a  gathering  of  the  electors  of  Paris  at  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  the  establishment  of  a  civil  guard  had  been  proposed  anew. 
Upon  the  llth,  the  Parisian  electors  passed  a  resolve  imploring 


1789.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  31 

/ 

the  Assembly  to  establish  as  soon  as  possible  this  military  institu- 
tion, already  formed  at  Languedoc  and  other  points.  All  felt  that 
here  lay  the  only  means  of  order  within,  and  the  best  means  of 
defence  without. 

A  collision  was  imminent  The  king  was  completely  in  the 
hands  of  the  court  party,  which  in  his  name  was  organizing  a 
counter-revolution.  The  foreign  soldiers,  upon  whom  the  court 
relied  far  more  than  upon  the  national  soldiers,  formed  of  them- 
selves alone  an  entire  army  corps,  composed  principally  of  Swiss 
infantry  and  German  cavalry.  There  were  ten  regiments  in  all, 
stationed  at  Sevres,  at  Issi,  at  Courbevoie,  in  Paris  even,  at  the 
Military  School.  Other  forces  occupied  St.  Denis.  The  plan  of 
the  leaders,  first  of  whom  were  the  Polignacs,  the  friends  of  the 
queen,  was  to  have  the  principal  deputies  arrested,  to  fire  grape-shot 
upon  the  Parisians,  or  to  starve  Paris,  if  Paris  tried  to  defend  the 
representatives  of  the  people;  to  impose  upon  the  rest  of  the 
Assembly  the  acceptance  of  the  royal  declarations  of  June  23,  and 
if  the  Assembly  refused,  to  dissolve  it,  to  carry  the  royal  declara- 
tions to  parliament,  and  then  to  recommence  governing  in  the  name 
of  the  king  alone. 

The  Eevolutionary  party  was  ready.  Three  very  active  groups 
watched  over  it  and  worked  for  it :  1st,  the  Parisian  electors,  who 
had  formed  themselves  into  a  body ;  2d,  the  friends  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  men  of  ambition  and  intrigue,  who  worked  and  plotted  to 
make  themselves  masters  of  the  Revolution  in  the  name  of  their 
prince ;  3d,  the  Breton  Club,  a  political  league  first  formed  in  Paris 
at  the  house  of  Dupont,  then  transferred  to  Versailles,  where  it  was 
named  the  Breton  Club,  because  Breton  deputies  at  first  composed 
the  majority  of  its  members.  The  society  afterward  became  the 
JACOBIN  CLUB. 

The  Revolutionary  party  had  intelligence  even  of  what  took  place 
in  the  palace  of  Versailles.  The  petty  employes,  the  domestics 
even  of  princes,  formed  for  it  a  counter  police,  and  informed  it  of 
all  they  saw  and  heard. 

July  11,  Necker,  the  minister  who  had  remained  aloof  from  the 


32  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  II. 

court  conspiracy,  received  orders  from  the  king  to  leave  Versailles 
and  the  realm  immediately  and  quietly.  Necker  obeyed.  Upon 
leaving,  he  did  a  fine  action.  He  confirmed  the  security  he  had 
given  the  creditors  of  the  state  upon  his  own  property,  to  the 
amount  of  two  millions. 

With  Necker,  financial  resources  and  the  possibility  of  borrow- 
ing vanished.  The  king's  council  decided  upon  the  issue  of  one 
hundred  millions  of  paper-money.  It  was  the  preface  of  that 
bankruptcy  upon  which  the  court  party  had  resolved. 

As  Necker  had  concealed  his  departure,  his  dismissal  was  not 
known  in  Paris  until  the  morning  of  the  next  day.  A  growing 
agitation  spread  through  the  whole  city.  Toward  three  o'clock,  at 
the  Palais  Royal,  a  young  man  mounted  a  table  before  the  Cafe  de 
Toy,  pistol  in  hand.  "  Citizens,"  cried  he,  "they  drove  Necker  away 
yesterday ;  they  are  preparing  this  very  night  a  Saint  Bartholomew 
for  patriots  !  To  arms,  citizens !  Let  us  take  the  green  cockade, 
the  color  of  hope.  To  arms  ! " 

It  was  a  young  Picardian  from  Guise,  Camille  Desmoulins, 
already  known  through  political  publications  filled  with  ardor  and 
patriotism,  and  especially  by  his  brilliant  pamphlet,  "  Free  France," 
the  first  republican  cry  raised  by  the  French  Revolution. 

All  the  people  around  Camille  took  the  green  cockade.  Those 
who  could  not  find  ribbons  placed  the  leaves  of  trees  in  their  hats. 
The  crowd  went  forth  from  the  Palais  Royal,  crying,  "  To  arms  ! " 

Another  band,  meanwhile,  was  carrying  through  the  streets  busts 
of  Necker  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  covered  with  black  crape.  The 
Orleans  party  had  that  morning  caused  to  be  proclaimed  in  Paris  a 
proposition  of  the'  duke's  to  club  together  for  the  relief  of  the  poor, 
he  himself  having  subscribed  three  hundred  thousand  francs.  At 
the  Place  Vendome,  this  procession  met  the  German  dragoons,  who 
fired  upon  it.  One  of  the  bearers  of  the  busts  was  killed,  another 
wounded.  The  populace,  however,  defended  the  busts,  and  pushed 
on  to  the  Place  Louis-Quinze  (Place  de  la  Concorde).  Soldiers  had 
arrived,  here  in  force.  The  German  dragoons  charged  upon  the 
people,  even  to  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries.  The  popular  excitement 


1789.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  33 

no  longer  knew  any  bounds.  The  theatres  were  compelled  to  close ; 
the  shops  of  the  gunsmiths  were  pillaged  An  immense  uproar 
filled  the  city.  The  French  guards  fired  into  a  street  upon  the 
German  dragoons.  A  great  detachment  of  French  guards  marched 
at  the  head  of  the  people  towards  the  Place  Louis-Quinze,  to  attack 
here  the  Swiss  infantry  and  the  Hungarian  hussars.  But  the  place 
was  evacuated  by  the  troops,  who  had  received  an  order  to  fall  back 

A  throng  of  citizens,  feeling  the  need  of  order  and  direction  in 
this  great  movement,  had  hastened  to  the  Hotel  de  VillS  to  demand 
the  convocation  of  the  sixty  districts,  and  a  general  armament. 
Those  of  the  electors  who  were  present  decreed  that  the  districts 
should  be  immediately  convoked,  and  then  dispersed  round  Paris  to 
solicit  groups  of  armed  citizens  to  maintain  order.  They  could  not 
prevent  tumultuous  bands  from  setting  fire  to  the  railings  of  the 
wall  of  the  toll-house  recently  constructed. 

The  National  Assembly,  which,  for  a  moment,  had  seemed  to 
falter,  arose  with  new  strength  in  this  hour  of  peril  July  12,  the 
cure  Gregoire,  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Assembly,  deposited  the 
minutes  of  the  sessions  in  a  place  of  safety,  so  that  the  court  could 
not  bear  away  by  force  these  monuments  of  growing  liberty.  In 
the  evening,  amid  the  applause  of  the  deputies  and  the  people  who 
thronged  the  hall  of  the  Three  Estates,  Gregoire  recalled  the  Oath  of 
the  Tennis-Court,  "  which  we  will  all  keep,"  cried  he,  "  even  though 
we  should  be  buried  under  the  ruins  of  this  hall ! " 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th,  Mounier,  the  author  of  the  Oath  of 
the  Tennis-Court,  proposed  an  address  to  the  king,  demanding  the 
recall  of  Necker,  and  the  dismissal  of  the  new  ministers  who  had 
just  replaced  Necker  and  several  of  his  colleagues.  These  new 
ministers  were  Baron  de  Breteuil,  confidential  adviser  of  the  queen ; 
old  Marshal  de  Broglie,  who  had  figured  in  the  Seven  Years'  War, 
and  who  now  commanded  the  allied  army  against  Paris ;  the  for- 
mer intendant  Thoulon,  who  recalled  the  most  odious  remembrances 
of  the  time  of  Louis  XV. ;  and  other  men  equally  unpopular. 

Mounier  added,  that  it  should  be  declared  to  the  king  that  the 
Assembly  would  never  consent  to  an  infamous  bankruptcy.  "  Let 
3 


34  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  II. 

us  declare  the  ministers  responsible,"  added  some.  "Let  us  continue 
our  work  upon  the  constitution  ! "  said  others.  "  The  constitution 
will  be  finished,  even  though  we  are  no  more ! "  said  a  noble  deputy, 
Clermont-Tonnerre. 

Tidings  from  Paris  becoming  more  and  more  grave,  the  Assembly 
decided  to  send  to  the  king  a  deputation  to  demand  anew  the 
dismissal  of  the  soldiers,  and  to  insist  that  the  guard  of  Paris  be 
confided  to  the  citizen  militia. 

The  king  replied  that  he  alone  was  judge  of  the  measures  the 
disorders  of  Paris  had  compelled  him  to  take;  He  would  consent 
neither  to  the  citizen  guard  nor  to  the  proposed  sending  of  a  dep- 
utation from  the  National  Assembly  to  Paris  for  the  purpose  of 
restoring  public  tranquillity. 

La  Fayette  repeated  his  motion  as  to  the  responsibility  of  the 
ministers.  The  Assembly  declared  that  the  acting  ministers  and 
the  counsellors  of  his  Majesty,  of  whatever  rank  they  might  be,  were 
personally  responsible  for  present  calamities,  and  all  that  might 
result  from  them,  and  that  no  power  had  the  right  to  utter  that 
infamous  word  "  bankruptcy." 

The  deputies  of  the  nobility  and  of  the  clergy  assented,  or  did  not 
oppose. 

The  Assembly  maintained  all  its  former  decrees  and  declared 
them  permanent.  It  was  to  continue  three  days  longer.  La  Fay- 
ette  was  chosen  vice-president. 

In  Paris,  the  tocsin  sounded,  the  gdn&ale  was  beaten.  The  peo- 
ple forced  open  the  convent  of  the  Lazaristes,  which  contained  large 
stores  of  grain.  They  did  not  pillage  the  grain ;  they  carried  it  to 
the  market-place  (La  Halle).  Prisoners  for  debt  were  released, 
but  the  jailers  of-  the  Chatelet  were  aided  in  securing  the  male- 
factors who  tried  to  escape. 

A  great  crowd  rushed  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  demanding  arms. 
The  electors,  the  only  popular  authority,  had  none  to  give,  the 
administration  was  not  in  their  hands.  They  sent  for  the  ancient 
authorities,  the  provosts  of  the  merchants  and  aldermen.  These 
were  only  the  delegates  of  the  king;  they  were  re-elected  by 


THE    PEOPLE    ARMING    THEMSELVES    AT    THE    INVALIDES. 


1789.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  35 

popular  acclamation,  and,  with  a  few  electors,  obliged  to  consti- 
tute a  permanent  committee.  Flesselles,  the  provost  of  the  mer- 
chants, who  was  of  the  court  party,  would  have  liked  to  hinder 
the  movement,  but  he  was  obliged  to  consent  to  what  the  com- 
mittee ordained,  —  the  formation  of  a  Parisian  militia  of  forty-eight 
thousand  men.  A  blue  and  red  cockade  replaced  the  green  cockade 
of  yesterday.  Blue  and  red  were  the  heraldic  colors  of  the  city 
of  Paris,  the  colors  of  the  time  of  Stephen  Marcel  and  of  the  first 
Parisian  struggle  for  liberty. 

The  sixty  districts  adhered  to  the  committee,  as  did  also  the 
French  guards  and  the  watchmen,  or  municipal  guard.  The  Na- 
tional Assembly  sent  its  approbation. 

The  two  chief  points  were  armament  and  subsistence.  The  com- 
mittee had  taken  charge  of  the  supplies,  —  a  serious  business  in  the 
prevailing  state  of  penury,  and  when  Paris  was,  in  fact,  blockaded 
by  soldiers.  The  armament  was  a  difficulty  still  more  urgent  and 
terrible.  The  populace  had  just  seized  a  boat  laden  with  powder, 
and  was  violently  clamoring  for  guns,  knowing  that  there  existed 
a  great  depot  of  arms  somewhere  in  Paris.  The  provost  promised 
them.  He  had  many  cases  brought,  and  tried  to  delay  their  open- 
ing ;  but  the  people,  becoming  impatient,  opened  them,  and  found 
only  wood  and  rags.  A  cry  of  treason  rose.  The  provost  feigned 
that  there  was  a  misunderstanding,  that  the  guns  were  at  the  Car- 
thusian convent.  The  mob  hastened  there,  and  found  only  a  single 
weapon. 

The  people  more  and  more  suspected  the  provost,  and  with  him 
the  committee,  which  was,  however,  doing  its  best.  The  committee 
ordered  the  construction  of  fifty  thousand  pikes.  They  were  finished 
within  thirty-six  hours ;  but  they  came  too  late,  and  were  a  weak 
resource. 

Happily,  there  was  not  in  the  counter-revolution  at  Versailles  a 
man  who  saw  clearly  or  acted  wisely.  The  court  allowed  the  night 
of  the  13th  to  pass  without  attack,  as  it  had  the  night  of  the  12th. 

It  was  at  last  known  where  the  guns  were.  Berthier,  the  in- 
tendant  of  Paris,  had  caused  them  to  be  taken  to  the  cellars  of  the 


36  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  II. 

Dome  des  Invalides.  On  the  morning  of  the  14th,  thousands  of 
Parisians,  with  a  delegate  from  the  committee  at  their  head,  rushed 
to  the  Invalides.  Several  regiments,  mostly  foreign,  were  encamped 
upon  the  Champ  de  Mars.  The  populace  could  not  have  held  out 
against  such  a  force  in  the  broad  boulevards  and  the  vacant  spaces 
around  the  Invalides. 

The  commandant  had  no  orders,  and  was  not  sure  of  all  his 
forces,  not  even  of  the  foreign  soldiers.  He  hesitated.  The  people 
rushed  into  the  Invalides,  carrying  away  twenty-eight  thousand 
guns  and  some  cannon.  A  large  number  of  soldiers  belonging  to 
different  corps,  following  the  example  of  the  French  guards,  left 
their  regiments,  with  arms  and  baggage,  and  offered  their  services 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

All  through  the  city  rose  one  united  cry,  "To  the  Bastille !" 

To  Paris,  the  larger  portion  of  which  it  held  under  its  cannon,  the 
Bastille  was  the  symbol  of  tyranny ;  it  had  been  such  a  symbol  to 
the  entire  world,  ever  since  the  famous  history  of  Latude,  and 
Mirabeau's  book,  so  eloquent  and  so  widely  circulated,  upon  Lettres 
de  Cachet. 

The  garrison  of  the  Bastille  was  weak  in  numbers, — eighty  French 
soldiers,  a  few  disabled  soldiers,  and  thirty  Swiss ;  but  the  place 
could  almost  defend  itself  by  its  massiveness,  its  thick  walls  and 
its  eight  large  towers,  which  ruled  on  one  side  the  St.  Antoine 
quarter  and  the  Marais,  and  on  the  other  the  faubourg  St.  Antoine. 
It  seemed  impossible  to  take  it  without  the  heaviest  artillery. 
The  Parisians  did  not  reason,  they  acted.  They  went  to  the  Bas- 
tille as  they  had  gone  to  the  Invalides. 

The  permanent  committee,  which  felt  its  great  responsibility,  and 
the  frightful  evil  the  Bastille  might  do  to  Paris,  had  tried  to  make  a 
compromise.  It  had  sent  delegates  to  the  governor  of  the  Bastille, 
promising  not  to  attack  it,  if  he  would  pledge  himself  not  to  fire 
upon  the  city.  Governor  Delaunei,  who  had  no  orders,  promised 
all  they  wished;  but  there  was  no  guaranty  that  he  would  keep 
his  word  if  the  troops  should  attack  Paris. 

The  committee  had  gone  too  far  in  promising  not  to  attack.     It 


1789.]  THE  TAKING  OF  THE  BASTILLE.  37 

was  no  longer  in  its  power  to  restrain  the  populace.  A  new  deputy- 
presented  himself  in  the  name  of  the  district  St.  Louis,  near  by  the 
fortress.  He  was  a  lawyer,  named  Thuriot,  a  strong,  courageous 
man,  whom  we  shall  meet  upon  other  great  days  of  the  Eevolution. 
Thuriot  used  such  high  language  to  the  governor,  and  so  much 
intimidated  him,  that  he  allowed  him  to  enter  the  inner  court, 
harangue  the  garrison,  and  summon  it  to  surrender. 

The  governor  of  the  fortress  only  renewed  his  promise  not  to  fire 
unless  attacked.  Thuriot  said  that  he  hoped  the  people  would  be 
content,  if  allowed  to  furnish  a  guard  to  occupy  the  Bastille  with  its 
present  garrison. 

Thuriot  left  to  report  to  the  committee ;  but  the  people  were  so 
enraged  at  not  seeing  the  gates  immediately  opened,  that  they 
would  listen  to  no  persuasion.  They  began  the  attack,  and  under 
a  discharge  of  musketry  from  the  garrison,  forced  the  first  draw- 
bridge and  the  first  court,  which  were  outside  the  fortress;  then 
they  rushed  to  the  second  drawbridge,  where  they  were  stopped  by 
a  terrible  discharge.  The  soldiers  fired  under  cover,  through  loop- 
holes and  barbacans,  upon  the  exasperated  assailants,  whose  balls 
flattened  against  the  solid  walls.  The  mob  persisted  in  the  unequal 
contest.  From  one  hundred  and  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  eighty 
of  the  besiegers  fell  dead  or  wounded ;  the  besieged  had  only  one 
man  killed.  Two  deputations  from  the  committee  tried  in  vain  to 
interpose.  The  invalids  posted  in  the  towers,  seeing  the  white  flag 
borne  by  the  second  deputation,  raised  the  cross.  The  mob  ad- 
vanced, believing  that  the  gates  were  about  to  be  opened.  The 
Swiss  fired  into  their  midst. 

The  populace  took  this  misunderstanding  for  treason,  and  raised 
a  loud  cry  for  vengeance.  The  French  guards  had  arrived  with 
some  cannon.  It  was  not  heavy  artillery,  and  the  place  could  still 
hold  out ;  but  the  invalids  could  only  with  regret  shed  the  blood 
of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  in  spite  of  the  Swiss,  they  summoned 
the  governor  to  surrender.  This  governor,  Delaunei,  knew  that  he 
was  much  hated ;  he  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  hard,  avaricious 
man,  who  speculated  upon  his  unhappy  prisoners.  Feeling  himself 


38  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  II. 


,  he  descended  with  a  lighted  match  into  the  powder-magazine. 
There  were  here  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  casks  of  powder, 
which  would  have  blown  up  the  Bastille  and  all  its  environs.  Two 
invalids  threw  themselves  between  him  and  the  casks,  and  charged 
upon  him  with  the  bayonet.  He  at  last  consented  to  sign  a  note 
offering  to  capitulate. 

Two  of  the  chiefs  of  the  popular  bands  and  the  French  guards 
promised  that  the  lives  of  the  besieged  should  be  spared.  The  bridge 
was  lowered.  The  people  rushed  over  it.  The  Bastille  was  taken. 

This  was  a  small  feat  at  arms,  but  a  very  great  event  in  history  ; 
more  momentous  than  a  great  battle. 

At  the  instigation  of  this  Thuriot,  who  had  addressed  the  first 
summons  to  the  governor,  the  populace  began  that  very  evening  the 
demolition  of  the  Bastille.  The  standing  committee,  and  then  the 
Assembly  of  Electors,  sanctioned  the  next  day  the  work  the  people 
had  already  begun  to  execute. 

"  Two  things,"  says  Bailie  in  his  memoirs,  "  will  eternally  mark 
this  famous  day,  July  14  :  the  one,  the  formation  of  the  national 
guard,  which  was  to  be  imitated  throughout  France  and  oppose  a 
barrier  to  the  re-establishment  of  despotism  ;  the  other,  the  taking 
and  demolition  of  the  Bastille,  which  was  for  the  people  a  material 
image  of  the  fall  of  the  ancient  government  and  the  destruction  of 
arbitrary  power." 

Sinister  incidents  saddened  this  victory  of  the  people.  In  the 
immense  armed  crowd  the  most  savage  passions  fermented  side  by 
side  with  the  most  generous.  A  part  of  the  assailants  of  the 
Bastille  became  frantic  at  seeing  so  many  of  their  comrades  fall. 
Governor  Delaunei  did  not  reach  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  where  they 
were  conducting  him  as  a  prisoner.  One  of  those  who  had  promised 
him  life,  a  very  valiant  man,  who  afterward  became  General  Hullin, 
aided  by  other  brave  men,  made  unavailing  efforts  to  save  him. 
Delaunei,  being  torn  from  their  hands,  was  massacred,  and  his  head 
placed  on  the  end  of  a  pike.  Several  other  officers  and  soldiers 
were  killed.  The  French  guards  obtained  from  the  people  pardon 
for  the  rest  of  the  garrison.  It  was  learned  the  next  day,  that  one 


1789.]  THE   TAKING  OF   THE  BASTILLE.  39 

of  the  unfortunates  cruelly  put  to  death  was  the  very  man  who  had 
prevented  Delaunei  from  blowing  up  the  Bastille  and  the  quarter 
St.  Antoine.  This  was  a  public  affliction.  The  wives  of  the  con- 
querors of  the  Bastille  adopted  his  family. 

There  was,  that  evening,  another  victim,  more  considerable  than 
Delaunei. 

Since  the  day  before,  public  clamor  had  risen  with  increasing  vio- 
lence against  the  provost  of  the  merchants,  Flesselles ;  he  seemed  to 
have  done  all  in  his  power  to  impede  and  hinder  the  arming  of  the 
populace.  The  people  were  convinced  that  he  was  in  league  with 
the  court  and  the  governor  of  the  Bastille.  His  antecedents  were 
not  favorable.  Summoned  by  those  who  accused  him  of  treason, 
to  appear  and  justify  himself  before  the  popular  assembly  of  the 
Palais  Eoyal,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  taken  there.  In  the  midst 
of  the  Place  de  Greve  he  was  killed  by  a  pistol-shot  through  the 
head.  The  shot  came  from  an  unknown  hand.  From  the  first 
moment  of  the  material  conflict,  acts  of  implacable  vengeance  in 
the  mob  were  mingled  with  acts  of  courage  and  devotion,  and  all 
could  foresee  that  terrible  days  were  to  come. 

The  people  had  anticipated  the  court.  The  court  party  had 
designed  to  attack  Paris  in  seven  places  at  once  in  the  night  from 
the  14th  to  the  15th.  The  preparations  had  been  directed  at  Ver- 
sailles by  Marshal  de  Broglie  and  the  new  minister  Foulon ;  at  the 
Military  School,  by  the  commandant  of  the  Champ  de  Mars,  and  by 
Intendant  Berthier,  Foulon's  son-in-law.  The  queen  and  her  friend, 
the  Duchess  de  Polignac,  had  themselves  inspired,  at  the  Orangery 
of  Versailles,  both  officers  and  soldiers.  It  was  on  this  same  night 
they  designed  to  carry  away  by  force  the  principal  members  of  the 
National  Assembly. 

The  court  had  reckoned  without  taking  into  account  the  audacity 
of  the  Parisians,  and  it  did  not  know  how  to  change  its  plans  with 
the  course  of  events.  Besenval,  the  commandant  of  the  Champ  de 
Mars,  had  ordered  the  governor  of  the  Bastille  to  defend  it  to  the 
last  extremity,  and  had  not  imagined  that  it  would  be  taken.  He 
did  nothing  to  succor  it.  He  and  the  others  lost  their  senses. 


40  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  II. 

The  National  Assembly,  forewarned  by  the  delegates  of  the  stand- 
ing committee  of  what  was  going  on  in  Paris,  had  sent,  one  directly 
after  the  other,  two  deputations  to  the  king,  to  request  the  instant 
withdrawal  of  the  soldiers.  The  king,  greatly  agitated,  consented 
to  the  formation  of  the  civil  guard,  which  he  had  yesterday  op- 
posed, and  said  that  he  had  ordered  the  forces  of  the  Champ  de 
Mars  to  withdraw  from  Paris. 

Here  was  only  a  half-concession.  The  Assembly  insisted  on 
"the  entire  and  absolute  retreat  of  the  soldiers  from  the  capital 
and  its  environs."  When  the  tidings  became  decisive,  when  it  was 
known  that  the  Bastille  was  taken,  Paris  unpaved  and  barricaded, 
and  the  Parisians  established  upon  Montmartre  with  cannon,  to 
await  the  forces  posted  at  St.  Denis,  the  arrogance  of  the  court 
had  a  sudden  and  complete  fall  The  king  had  already  relapsed 
into  apathy.  A  great  seignior,  of  the  liberal  minority  of  the  nobles, 
the  Duke  de  la  Eochefoucauld-Liancourt,  entered  the  apartments 
of  Louis  XVI.  at  midnight,  and  warned  him  that  his  crown  was 
in  danger  if  he  did  not  make  terms  with  the  Assembly. 

"  Is  it,  then,  a  revolt  ? "  asked  the  king. 

"  Sire,  it  is  a  revolution ! " 

The  next  morning,  Count  d'Artois  himself,  seized  with  terror, 
urged  the  king  to  yield.  The  danger  in  fact  was  imminent,  and  it 
did  not  come  wholly  from  the  people.  Mirabeau  seeing,  on  the  one 
side,  that  Louis  XVI.  had  again  become  the  tool  of  the  counter- 
revolutionists,  and  seeing,  on  the  other  side,  the  people  in  insur- 
rection, had  dreamed  of  saving  royalty  at  the  king's  expense,  and 
of  obliging  Louis  XVI.  to  abdicate  in  favor  of  his  son,  the  little 
dauphin,  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans  as  lieutenant-general  of  the 
kingdom.  An  arrangement  was  made  with  the  duke,  wfho  was  to 
begin  by  going  to  the  palace  on  the  morning  of  the  15th,  to  offer 
his  mediation  between  royalty  and  the  insurrection. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  went,  and  remained  pitifully  at  the  door  of 
the  king's  council-chamber,  without  daring  to  enter,  and  he  ended 
by  offering  to  the  king,  as  a  pledge  of  his  fidelity,  a  written  promise 
to  go  over  to  England  if  things  grew  worse.  He  had  lost  his  senses ; 


1789.]  THE  TAKING  OF  THE  BASTILLE.  41 

he  also,  like  all  his  enemies  at  the  court.  Mirabeau  was  forced  to 
acknowledge  that  absolutely  nothing  at  all  could  be  done  with 
him. 

In  the  morning,  as  a  new  deputation  was  just  ready  to  set  out 
from  the  Assembly  to  the  palace,  the  king  entered  without  guards, 
with  his  two  brothers,  and,  standing  uncovered,  he  protested  against 
the  report  they  had  dared  spread  abroad,  that  the  persons  of  the 
deputies  were  menaced.  He  declared  that  he  was  one  with  the 
nation,  that  he  had  just  confided  himself  to  its  representatives,  and 
that  he  expected  the  National  Assembly  to  aid  him  in  assuring  the 
safety  of  the  state.  He  had,  he  said,  ordered  the  soldiers  to  with- 
draw from  Paris  and  from  Versailles,  and  he  requested  the  Assem- 
bly to  make  known  his  intentions  to  the  capital 

Eeceived  at  first  in  silence,  he  was  warmly  applauded  when  he 
was  heard  to  pronounce  at  last  the  name  of  the  National  Assembly, 
instead  of  that  of  the  States-General.  This  was  to  recognize  the 
Revolution. 

The  entire  Assembly  on  foot  conducted  him  back  to  the  palace. 
The  crowd  cried,  "  Vive  le  roi ! "  Musical  instruments  played  the 
air,  — 

"  Oil  peut-on  etre  mieux  qu'au  sein  de  sa  famille" ;  * 

and  the  queen,  from  a  balcony  of  the  palace,  presented  the  dauphin 
to  the  people,  as  she  had  formerly  presented  him  to  the  nobility, 
but  with  very  different  sentiments  in  her  heart,  and  illy  concealing 
her  humiliation,  her  anger,  and  her  affright. 

A  large  deputation,  more  than  eighty  members  of  the  Assembly, 
immediately  set  out  for  Paris.  The  Parisians  gave  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people  just  such  an  ovation  as  they  had  been  wont  to 
give  to  kings.  All  Paris  in  arms  received  them  with  the  cry,  "  Vive 
la  Nation ! "  In  the  Rue  Saint  Honor^  a  procession  came  to  meet 
them,  leading  in  triumph  a  member  of  the  French  guard  crowned 
with  laurel  He  was  presented  to  the  deputies  as  one  of  the  con- 
querors of  the  Bastille. 

At  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  La  Fayette,  as  vice-president  of  the  Assem- 

*  "  Where  can  one  better  be  than  in  the  bosom  of  his  family?  " 


42  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  II. 

bly,  reported  to  the  electors  the  "  words  of  peace  "  that  had  been 
spoken  by  the  king. 

La  Fayette,  very  popular  in  Paris  (his  bust  was  in  the  grand  hall 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  opposite  that  of  his  illustrious  friend  Wash- 
ington), was  elected,  by  acclamation,  commanding  general  of  the 
Parisian  militia.  Bailie,  the  first  president  of  the  National  Assem- 
bly, was  proclaimed  mayor  of  Paris.  They  would  have  no  more  of 
the  old  title  Provost  of  Merchants.  A  new  title  was  required  for  a 
new  situation.  The  sixty  districts  of  Paris,  and  then  the  National 
Assembly,  confirmed  the  nominations  of  Bailie  and  La  Fayette.  The 
king's  confirmation  of  these  officers  was  not  asked,  public  opinion 
declaring  the  freedom  of  the  people  in  the  election  of  their  magis- 
trates forbade  the  interference  of  the  executive  power.  There  was 
then  no  idea  that  a  mayor  elected  by  Paris  might  become  too  great 
a  power  in  the  state. 

At  La  Fayette's  suggestion  the  names  of  Civil  Guard  and  Paris- 
ian Militia  were  replaced  by  that  of  NATIONAL  GUAKD. 

La  Fayette  and  Bailie  discharged  with  the  greatest  zeal  the  high 
functions  intrusted  to  them,  and  during  this  terrible  crisis  the  stand- 
ing committee  had  shown  an  admirable  devotion  and  activity.  They 
had  found  themselves  in  Paris  with  only  three  days'  subsistence, 
and  all  sorts -of  labor  stopped.  They  had  faced  all;  had  sent  to 
Havre  for  grain,  opened  the  workshops,  ordered  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  city  customs,  without  which  Paris  would  not  have 
known  whence  to  derive  its  resources,  and  decreed  a  tax  to  aid  the 
poor  and  to  support  the  armed  citizens  who  watched  over  the  de- 
fence of  the  capital. 

The  king  had  gone  to  the  Assembly.  This  first  step  involved 
another :  he  must  come  to  Paris.  The  queen  and  her  party  tried 
to  prevent  this,  and  to  induce  him  to  leave  Versailles  with  the  sol- 
diers. 

This  would  have  been  to  declare  civil  war.  The  majority  of  the 
king's  council  opposed.  The  ministers  sent  in  their  resignations. 
On  the  evening  of  the  16th,  the  king  wrote  to  Necker,  recalling 
him ;  on  the  morning  of  the  17th,  after  having  partaken  of  the  sac- 


1789.]  THE  TAKING  OF  THE  BASTILLE.  43 

rament,  like  a  man  who  marches  to  his  death,  he  set  out  for  Paris. 
He  took  with  him  a  few  gentlemen  of  the  court,  but  no  guard. 
Three  hundred  members  of  the  National  Assembly  served  him  as  an 
escort.  Bailie,  as  mayor  of  Paris,  received  him  at  the  entrance  of 
the  capital,  near  the  steam-engines  of  Chaillot 

"  Sire,"  said  Bailie  to  him,  "  I  bring  to  your  Majesty  the  keys  of 
the  good  city  of  Paris.  They  are  the  same  which  were  presented  to 
Henri  IV.  He  had  reconquered  his  people ;  here  it  is  the  people 
who  have  reconquered  their  king." 

One  hundred  thousand  armed  men  hastened  on  from  Chaillot  to 
the  Hotel  de  Ville.  A  long-continued  cry  of  "  Vive  la  Nation ! " 
rolled  like  thunder  over  the  cortege  as  it  passed  along.  The  blood 
of  the  victims  of  the  Bastille  was  still  warm,  and  Paris  did  not  cry 
"  Vive  le  roi ! "  as  Versailles  had  done. 

When  the  king  stepped  from  his  carriage  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
Bailie  presented  him  the  blue  and  red  cockade  of  the  Parisians. 
The  king  placed  it  on  his  hat,  as  the  regent  Charles  V.  had  formerly 
received  the  red  and  blue  cap  from  the  hands  of  Stephen  Marcel. 

Then,  at  last,  the  cry  of  "  Vive  le  roi ! "  broke  forth,  and,  when 
the  king  ascended  the  stairway  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  national 
guard,  ranged  upon,  the  steps,  to  render  him  homage,  made,  by 
crossing  their  swords,  "the  vow  of  steel"  above  his  head.  This 
is  the  manner  in  which  the  Freemasons  receive  their  dignitaries. 
These  Freemasons  received  the  king  who  came  to  render  homage  to 
liberty. 

They  led  the  king  to  a  throne  elevated  in  the  grand  hall,  and 
there,  upon  motion  of  the  proxy  of  the  Commune  of  Paris,  they 
voted  by  acclamation  a  statue  to  Louis  XVI.,  the  restorer  of  public 
liberty,  to  be  erected  on  the  site  of  the  Bastille.  • 

In  the  midst  of  these  affecting  scenes,  the  king,  uncertain,  embar- 
rassed, found  nothing  to  say  to  the  multitude.  He  charged  Bailie* 
to  say  for  him,  that  he  was  well  pleased  that  M.  Bailie  was  mayor 
and  M.  de  la  Fayette  general  commandant.  Finally,  with  great 
effort,  these  words  were  drawn  from  him,  "  You  can  always  count 
upon  my  love." 


44  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  II. 

The  populace  cheered  him  at  his  departure  and  all  along  his  way 
back  to  Versailles.  Upon  the  grand  staircase  of  the  palace  the 
queen  came  to  meet  him,  and,  with  their  children,  threw  herself 
into  his  arms.  She  had  all  day  trembled  for  his  safety. 

This  same  day,  Count  d'Artois,  the  princes  of  the  Cojide  branch, 
the  Polignacs,  and  a  few  other  chiefs  of  the  party  of  the  Ancient 
Regime,  left  France.  The  leaders  of  the  popular  reunions  at  the 
Palais  Royal  had  signified  to  them  that  they  were  condemned  to 
death  by  the  people,  as  Delaunei  and  Flesselles  had  been. 

Thus  it  was  Count  d'Artois  and  the  Polignacs  who  commenced 
the  emigration,  and  it  was  forty  years  after,  through  this  same 
Count  d'Artois,  become  Charles  X.,  and  through  this  same  Po- 
lignac  family,  that  the  monarchy  of  the  divine  right  —  a  mon- 
archy where  the  sovereign  pretends  to  derive  his  right  immediately 
from  God,  and  not  from  the  will  of  the  people  —  fell  finally  and 
irretrievably. 

Although  the  counter-revolutionists  had  fled,  the  Revolution  con- 
tinued to  organize  itself  in  Paris.  A  national  guard  was  formed, 
composed  of  sixty  battalions,  each  having  one  company  of  volun- 
teers and  one  paid  company.  The  hired  portion  was  composed  of 
the  old  French  guards,  and  of  six  thousand  solcliers  of  all  sorts  who 
had  left  their  several  corps  to  join  the  Parisians,  The  king  author- 
ized them  to  remain  in  Paris.  The  national  guard  of  Paris  had  an 
artillery  of  one  hundred  and  forty  cannon. 

All  France  followed  the  example  of  Paris  in  the  organization  of  a 
national  guard.  In  place  of  the  ancient  white  coat  of  the  infantry, 
the  guard  adopted  the  blue  uniform  with  white  back  and  red 
facings,  which  was  to  glitter  on  so  many  battle-fields ;  and,  at  the 
suggestion  t>f  La  Fayette,  to  the  new  national  cockade  with  the 
blue  a.nd  red  colors  of  the  city  of  Paris  was  added  the  white  color 
which  had  been  that  of  the  flag  of  France  since  Joan  of  Arc. 

"  I  bring  you,"  said  La  Fayette  to  the  new  Parisian  municipality, 
"  a  cockade  which  will  make  the  tour  of  the  world,  and  an  institu- 
tion at  the  same  time  civic  and  military,  which  is  to  triumph  over 
the  olden  tactics  of  Europe,  and  which  will  reduce  arbitrary  govern- 


1789.]  THE  TAKING  OF  THE  BASTILLE.  45 

ments  to  the  alternative  of  being  beaten  if  they  do  not  imitate  it,  or 
of  being  overthrown  if  they  dare  imitate  it." 

Europe,  as  well  as  France,  then  felt  deeply  the  truth  of  the  words 
spoken  by  La  Fayette.  "  I  should  not  know  how,"  writes  a  German 
who  was  then  travelling  in  France,  —  "I  should  not  know  how  to 
express  the  feelings  which  took  possession  of  me,  when,  for  the  first 
time,  I  saw  the  French  cockade  upon  the  hats  and  caps  of  all  we 
met,  citizens  and  peasants,  children  and  old  men,  priests  and  beg- 
gars ;  and  when  I  could  read  the  pride  upon  their  joyous  foreheads, 
in  the  presence  of  men  of  other  countries.  I  could  have  wished  to 
clasp  in  my  arms  the  first  who  presented  themselves  before  me. 
For  us  they  were  no  longer  Frenchmen,  and  for  the  moment  my 
companions  and  I  had  ceased  to  be  Germans.  '  I  am  a  man/  said 
each  of  us,  'and  nothing  which  concerns  humanity  is  foreign  to 
me.'" 

In  these  beautiful  days  of  European  fraternity,  at  present  so  far 
distant,  no  one  could  have  foreseen  that  France  would  again  fall 
under  military  despotism  ;  that  a  military  German  monarchy  would 
turn  against  her  the  institution  of  a  universal  armament  perfected 
by  science ;  and  that  the  France  of  the  Revolution  would  be  forced 
in  self-defence  in  its  turn  to  imitate  the  enemy. 


46  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY  (continued}.  —  THE  NIGHT  OF  AUGUST 
FOUKTH.  —  THE  DECLARATION  OF  EIGHTS. — THE  FIFTH  AND  SIXTH 
DAYS  OF  OCTOBER. 

July  2O  to  October  6,  1789. 

PAEIS  was  in  no  way  pacified  by  the  king's  visit.  Destitution 
everywhere  continued  to  irritate  the  poor,  who  suspected  the 
monopolists  of  speculating  upon  their  hunger.  The  classes  who 
were  suffering  no  need,  the  revolutionary  citizens,  designedly  con- 
tinued the  agitation.  They  felt  that  all  was  not  ended,  that  the 
Ancient  Regime  would  not  succumb  by  a  single  defeat.  They 
remembered  that  absolute  power  had  more  than  once  triumphed  in 
France  after  attempts  to  overthrow  it,  and  that  it  had  sent  its  adversa- 
ries into  exile  or  to  the  scaffold.  They  would  avoid  a  like  result  this 
time,  and  they  did  not  intend  to  arrest  the  Eevolution  until  it  had 
destroyed  all  that  was  capable  of  bringing  back  the  past.  They 
wished  to  strike  those  who  had  designed  to  strike  at  Paris ;  they 
would  now  pursue  for  the  crime  of  lese  nation  the  enemies  of  the 
people,  as  these  had  formerly  pursued  rebels  against  the  king  for 
the  crime  of  lese  majeste'.* 

But  pursue  them  before  what  tribunal  ?  The  ancient  tribunals 
yet  standing  were  composed  of  privileged  individuals,  of  enemies 
to  the  Revolution,  who  would  not  administer  justice.  The  new 
tribunals  called  for  by  the  memorials  to  the  king  did  not  yet  exist. 
Hence  arose  the  idea  propagated  by  seditious  spirits,  —  let  each 
execute  justice  for  himself;  let  the  populace  take  the  law  into  its 
own  hands. 

The  public  hatred  concentrated  principally  upon  two  men,  father 

*  Lese  majestt,  treason  against  the  king ;  Itee  nation,  treason  against  the  nation. 


1789.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  47 

and  son-in-law,  Foulon  and  Berthier.  They  were  supposed  to  be 
the  instigators  of  the  plan  of  attack  upon  Paris.  For  thirty  years 
the  Parisians  had  detested  Foulon.  They  attributed,  wrongly  or 
rightly,  his  great  fortune  to  old  and  new  speculations  in  grain, 
which  had  recommenced  under  the  ministry  of  Calonne  and  Brienne. 
At  a  period  of  famine  Louis  XV.  had  speculated  upon  the  misery 
of  his  people  by  gambling  upon  the  augmentation  of  the  price  of 
grain.  For  the  poor,  Foulon  was  the  man  of  the  FAMINE  COMPACT, 
which  had  been  renewed,  although  Louis  XVI.  was  by  no  means  its 
accomplice  as  Louis  XV.  had  been.  For  the  citizens,  Foulon  was 
the  man  of  bankruptcy.  They  had  no  doubt  that  he  would,  as  min- 
ister of  finance,  have  caused  a  new  bankruptcy,  if  the  people  had 
been  conquered  on  the  14th  of  July.  His  son-in-law,  Berthier,  in- 
tendant  of  Paris,  —  he  was  at  the  same  time  prefect  of  the  Seine  and 
prefect  of  police, —  was  no  less  unfeeling,  no  less  detested  than  he. 

Both  had  left  Paris  and  Versailles.  Foulon  was  hiding  in  the 
country.  The  peasants,  who  hated  him  as  much  as  the  Parisians, 
discovered  his  retreat,  and  seized  upon  him.  They  pretended  he 
had  said  that  if  the  people  were  hungry,  they  had  only  to  eat  grass. 
They  put  a  bundle  of  hay  upon  his  back,  a  chain  of  thistles  around 
his  neck,  and  conducted  him  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  in  Paris,  July  20. 

The  standing  committee,  when  they  saw  Foulon  arrive  as  a  pris- 
oner, already  knew  that  Berthier  had  been  arrested  in  Compiegne ; 
the  committee  had  sent  the  cavalry  of  the  municipal  guard  in  search 
of  Berthier,  for  fear  lest  he  might  be  summarily  put  to  death  by  the 
exasperated  populace. 

The  committee  hastily  convoked  the  Assembly  of  Electors,  who 
as  soon  as  possible  made  a  decree  to  confine  in  the  prison  of  the 
Abbey  St.  Germain  "  persons  accused  of  the  crime  of  treason  against 
the  nation,"  and  to  request  from  the  National  Assembly  the  forma- 
tion of  a  tribunal  which  should  judge  this  sort  of  crimes.  The 
commandant  of  the  national  guard,  La  Fayette,  was  asked  to  pro- 
vide for  the  safety  of  the  prisoners. 

The  mob  which  thronged  the  Place  de  Ville  invaded  the  hotel,, 
imperiously  demanding  the  sentence  and  immediate  execution  of 


48  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

Foulon.  Means  of  restoring  order  failed :  the  national  guard  was 
not  yet  thoroughly  organized;  La  Fayette  and  Bailie  made  the 
utmost  efforts  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  mob  to  Foulon's  being 
taken  to  prison.  The  mob,  left  to  itself,  would  have  listened  to  rea- 
son, but  men  who  did  not  belong  to  the  poorer  classes  kept  inflam- 
ing the  popular  excitement.  The  most  furious  at  last  succeeded  in 
wresting  Foulon  from  the  great  hall  and  dragging  him  to  the  Place 
de  Greve,  where  they  hung  him  to  the  lamp-post  opposite  the  Hotel 
de  Ville. 

Foulon  died,  an  expiatory  victim,  both  of  the  Famine  Compact  of 
Louis  XV.  and  more  yet  of  the  thirteen  bankruptcies  of  the  mon- 
archy. He  passed  for  the  man  who  would  have  caused  the  four- 
teenth. The  long-enduring  patience  of  the  populace  had  changed 
into  implacable  fury. 

Foulon  had  been  put  to  death  in  the  afternoon.  In  the  evening, 
his  son-in-law,  Berthier,  arrived,  after  having  made  from  Compie'gne 
to  Paris  a  journey  that  was  real  torture,  between  two  hedges  of 
people  who  loaded  him  with  maledictions.  Hundreds  of  country- 
men, of  farmers,  followed  on  horseback  the  carriage  that  contained 
the  prisoner,  for  fear  lest  he  might  escape.  The  little  towns  and 
country  places  shared  all  the  resentments  of  Paris.  Bailie  and  La 
Fayette  had  sent  an  escort  to  conduct  Berthier  directly  to  the  Abbaye 
prison ;  but  an  immense  mob  had  borne  on  both  the  escort  and  the 
prisoner  from  the  Porte  St.  Martin  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  leading  in 
triumph,  with  cries,  with  songs,  to  the  sound  of  trumpets,  to  the 
beating  of  drums,  the  former  intendant  of  Paris,  whom  they  accused 
of  having  wished  to  deliver  the  capital  to  blood  and  flame. 

Near  Saint-Merri  was  seen  approaching  the  procession  of  men 
bearing  a  bloody  head  upon  the  end  of  a  pike.  It  was  the  head  of 
Foulon. 

At  the  Hotel  de  Ville  there  was  a  repetition  of  the  bloody  scenes 
of  the  morning.  The  guard,  entirely  reinforced  as  it  was,  could  not 
prevent  the  mob  penetrating  a  second  time  into  the  Hotel  de  Ville  ; 
and  as  Berthier  was  not  tried  at  once,  and  as  they  were  endeavoring 
to  take  him  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  the  Abbaye,  the  mob  tore 


1789.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  49 

him  from  the  hands  of  his  escort.  He  was  an  energetic  and  vigor- 
ous man  ;  he  seized  a  musket,  and,  defending  himself  desperately, 
died  pierced  by  a  thousand  balls. 

La  Fayette,  despairing  and  indignant  at  not  having  been  able  to 
prevent  this  double  murder,  sent  his  resignation  to  the  mayor  and  to 
the  districts.  But  the  Assembly  of  Electors  and  deputations  from 
all  the  districts  implored  him  not  to  abandon  "  the  great  work  of 
public  liberty,"  and  promised  him  their  firmest  co-operation  in  the 
defence  of  freedom  and  order.  He  was  obliged  to  yield,  and  to 
retain  a  place  where  he  was  truly  needed. 

All  the  world  did  not  share  La  Fayette's  sentiments,  so  natural 
and  so  legitimate  to  a  man  who,  intrusted  with  the  public  order,  saw 
the  accused  torn  from  him  by  force  to  be  put  to  death  without 
trial.  Many  politic  men  judged  the  fermentation  of  the  masses 
still  necessary,  and  tolerated  popular  vengeance.  "Much  more 
blood  would  have  flowed,"  said  Mirabeau,  "  if  our  enemies  had  been 
conquerors."  It  was  necessary,  said  others,  to  intimidate  the  parti- 
sans of  the  Ancient  Eegime,  and  at  any  price  to  prevent  their  again 
lifting  up  their  heads.  Such  reasonings  lead  very  far. 

Camille  Desmoulins,  who  was  far  from  being  cruel,  who  died  for 
having  lifted  his  voice  in  favor  of  humanity,  who  wished  to  over- 
throw the  scaffolds,  then  fomented  the  rage  of  the  people  by  his 
brilliant  and  violent  pamphlets.  "Without  going  so  far  as  to  approve 
of  the  use  that  had  been  made  of  the  too  famous  lamp-post  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  upon  which  the  mob  had  hanged  "  the  instruments 
of  tyranny,"  he  did  not  fear  to  jest  upon  this  ominous  subject. 

A  politician  far  less  passionate  than  Desmoulins,  the  Dauphinois 
deputy,  Barnave,  let  escape  him  in  the  full  Assembly  a  terrible  say- 
ing :  "  Is  this  blood  then  so  pure  that  we  ought  so  much  to  regret 
shedding  it  ? " 

These  leaders  had  then  no  experience  of  revolutions ;  they  did 
not  know  that  blood  calls  for  blood,  and  that  the  first  drop  shed  by 
violence,  though  it  be  impure,  soon  causes  innocent  as  well  as  guilty 
blood  to  flow  in  torrents. 

That  the  reader  may  not  have  a  false  idea  of  the  state  of  Paris 

4 


50  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

and  of  the  spirit  of  the  people  in  these  times,  we  must  say  that 
if  some  partisans  of  the  Ancient  Regime  were  thus  cruelly  put  to 
death,  a  far  greater  number  of  suspected  persons  were  spared  or 
rescued,  and  that  La  Fayette,  once  unhappy  in  his  efforts,  often 
succeeded  in  other  circumstances. 

To  the  Parisian  movement,  so  grand  and  so  glorious  despite  some 
deplorable  incidents,  responded  the  movement  in  all  France.  The 
news  of  the  recall  of  Necker  had  stirred  up  the  provincial  cities  as 
well  as  the  capital.  Necker  was  everywhere,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
country,  the  adversary  of  the  Famine  Compact  and  bankruptcy. 
The  cities  of  the  interior  laid  their  hand  upon  the  old  castles,  which 
were  their  Bastilles.  The  soldiers,  at  different  points,  made  common 
cause  with  the  people.  All  the  towns  of  Brittany  armed  themselves 
to  march,  if  necessary,  to  the  succor  of  the  National  Assembly. 
Towns  and  villages  from  all  sides  sent  deputations  to  Paris  to 
announce  their  capture  of  arms,  and  ask  instructions  and  orders. 
France  felt  that  Paris  was  its  head  and  its  heart. 

At  this  moment  of  universal  agitation,  a  report  spread  that  bands 
of  brigands  were  roaming  over  the  fields  to  cut  down  the  grain. 
The  cry,  "  Here  come  the  brigands  ! "  flew  from  one  end  of  France 
to  the  other.  All  rose,  all  armed  to  repulse  them.  They  wandered, 
in  fact,  here  and  there,  bands  of  starving  people  whom  poverty  had 
rendered  beggars,  and  sometimes  made  malefactors ;  but  it  was  said 
that  the  politicians  of  the  Revolutionary  party  through  their  agents 
spread  the  tidings  of  the  coming  of  the  brigands  to  put  all  France 
on  a  war  footing. 

However  this  may  be,  the  arms  once  taken  were  no  more  laid 
aside,  and  there  was  in  the  service  of  the  Revolution,  a  universal 
national  guard. 

In  a  number  of  places  the  peasants  had  begun  not  to  pay  the 
feudal  duties.  They  did  more.  They  invaded  the  castles,  and  forced 
in  the  turrets  where  -were  kept  the  written  titles  to  the  pretended 
claims  which  had  caused  their  fathers  so  much  suffering  and  humili- 
ation. Then  began  the  destruction  of  the  feudal  archives.  The 
peasants  burned  the  archives,  and  sometimes  the  castles  themselves. 


1789.]  THE  NIGHT  OF  AUGUST   FOURTH.  51 

This  time  it  was  no  longer  the  Jacquerie*  of  the  fourteenth  century; 
it  was  no  longer  the  victory  of  a  day,  soon  drowned  in  blood  by 
reaction:  it  was  the  positive  coming  of  the  people  of  the  rural 
districts. 

There  were  in  some  places  bloody  revenges  upon  nobles  person- 
ally hated.  Elsewhere,  humane  and  benevolent  gentlemen  were 
protected  by  their  ancient  vassals.  In  some  provinces  not  only 
the  bands  of  vagabonds  and  pillagers,  but  the  peasants  who  burned 
chateaux,  were  forcibly  restrained  by  the  national  guard  of  the 
towns.  At  Lyons  the  workmen  took  sides  with  the  peasants  whom 
the  national  guard  bore  as  prisoners  from  the  burning  castles,  and 
it  was  necessary  to  give  battle  to  the  enrolled  bourgeois  youth. 
But  these  incidents  were  in  a  manner  forgotten  in  the  whole  im- 
mense movement,  and  generally  town  and  country  were  agreed  in 
proclaiming  the  ruin  of  feudality. 

This  grand  national  movement  had  an  extraordinary  opposition 
in  the  Assembly,  and  provoked  there  resolutions  unexampled  in 
history.  The  liberal  minority  of  the  noblesse,  which  had  urged  its 
order  to  reunite  with  the  Third  Estate,  judging  the  privileged  cause 
lost,  wished  that  at  least  the  French  nobility  should  end  with 
grandeur.  On  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  August,  the  Assembly,  at 
the  demand  of  the  government,  was  about  to  discuss  a  decree  for 
putting  an  end  to  the  outrages  that  had  been  committed  in  the 
provinces,  and  inviting  the  people  to  observe  the  ancient  laws  until 
they  should  have  been  abrogated  or  modified  by  the  national  au- 
thority. The  Viscount  de  Noailles  demanded  the  privilege  of  speak- 
ing, and  declared  that  there  was  in  the  provinces  only  one  means 
of  restoring  the  peace  disturbed  by  the  just  discontent  of  a  people 
oppressed  by  exorbitant  taxes.  It  was  to  decree  immediately  the 
proportional  equality  of  the  levy  for  all  citizens,  the  redemption  of 
annual  taxes  and  farm-rents  upon  the  base  of  their  average  income, 
and  the  abolition,  without  redemption,  of  statute  labor,  mortmain, 
and  all  personal  servitude. 

The  Viscount  de  Noailles  was  the  youngest  of  a  family,  without 

*  The  insurrection  of  the  peasants  against  King  John. 


52  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

feudal  tenures,  and  would  sacrifice  nothing  which  was  his  own ;  but 
the  richest  seigneur  of  France,  he  who  had  the  most  to  lose  in  the 
suppression  of  feudal  fights,  the  Duke  d'Aiguillon,  grandson  of  a 
nephew  of  the  great  Richelieu,  and  son  of  that  d'Aiguillon  who  had 
been  minister  under  Louis  XV.,  without  reservation  supported  the 
motion  of  Noailles.  The  latter  had  in  some  sort  stolen  a  march 
upon  him,  for  d'Aiguillon  had  the  day  before  announced  at  the 
Breton  Club  that  he  should  present  such  a  motion.  He  wished,  at 
any  price,  to  redeem  the  unenviable  reputation  of  his  father. 

After  these  noble  orators,  who,  amid  the  acclamations  of  the 
Assembly,  proposed  the  abolition  of  feudal  rights,  arose  the  orators 
of  the  people,  —  a  farmer  in  his  peasant  costume  of  Lower  Brittany, 
and  still  others  from  different  provinces,  —  who  energetically  por- 
trayed the  past  indignities  and  barbarities  of  the  feudal  regime  and 
the  cruel  fiscal  oppression  which  had  survived  these  barbarities.  No 
person  dared  raise  his  voice  in  defence  of  feudal  rights ;  but  a  pro- 
vincial gentleman  asked  that  the  court  seigneiirs  who  had  grown 
rich  at  the  expense  of  the  people,  through  royal  favors,  through 
pensions  and  high  places,  should  bear  their  part,  and  a  leading  part, 
in  the  sacrifices  that  were  about  to  be  imposed  upon  the  nobility. 
The  dukes  of  Guiche  and  of  Mortemart  unhesitatingly  replied,  that 
those  he  had  named  were  ready  to  renounce  the  king's  benefits  to 
share  in  the  common  burden. 

Propositions  then  succeeded  each  other  with  such  rapidity  that 
the  secretary  could  scarce  write  them  down.  A  generous  emulation 
in  sacrifice  took  possession  of  those  very  ones  who  the  day  before 
had  shown  the  most  obstinate  prejudices.  It  was  the  spirit  of  dis- 
interestedness, of  chivalry,  awaking  in  the  final  agonies  of  feudality. 

The  Viscount  de  Beauharnais,  father  of  Eugene  Beauharnais,  de- 
manded that  all  citizens  be  eligible  to  all  employments,  and  that 
the  penalties  for  all  crimes  be  the  same  without  distinction  of  class. 

Another  deputy  demanded  the  abolition  of  seigneurial  jurisdic- 
tions (freehold  tribunals). 

One  of  the  magistrates,  a  member  of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  pro- 
posed that  justice  be  gratuitous,  and  the  venality  of  the  long-estab- 
lished charges  be  suppressed. 


1789.]  THE  NIGHT  OF  AUGUST  FOURTH.  53 

The  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld  demanded  that,  while  enfranchis- 
ing serfs  throughout  the  royal  kingdom,  they  ameliorate  the  lot  of 
slaves  in  the  colonies,  and  prepare  for  their  liberation. 

A  gentleman  wittily  said  that  he  regretted  having  only  a  trifle  to 
offer,  and  he  proposed  the  suppression  of  the  exclusive  right  in 
dove-cotes  held  by  the  possessors  of  fiefs. 

The  Breton  deputy,  Le  Chapelier,  who  presided,  proposed  that 
members  of  the  clergy  should,  in  their  turn,  make  known  their  sen- 
timents. 

The  bishops  approved  the  suppression  of  feudal  rights  belong- 
ing to  the  ecclesiastics  as  well  as  to  the  laity.  One  of  them  pro- 
posed the  abolition  of  the  exclusive  hunting-rights  enjoyed  by  the 
seigneurs.  This  was  one  sacrifice  at  the  expense  of  others. 

The  cures  were  more  generous;  they  offered  to  abandon  their 
perquisites.  It  was  the  last  resource  of  the  poor.  The  Assembly 
accepted  the  offer  only  by  augmenting  the  revenue  fixed  upon  cu- 
rates. 

The  bishops  had  not  spoken  a  word  about  the  tithes.  A  gentle- 
man upon  the  benches  of  the  nobility  said,  laughing,  to  his  neigh- 
bors, "  They  take  our  hunting  rights  from  us,  let  us  take  their  tithes 
from  them."  And  he  proposed  that  the  tithes  be  redeemable  as 
well  as  the  feudal  claims. 

The  bishops  dared  not  protest. 

After  the  privileges  of  the  nobility  and  the  clergy,  were  immo- 
lated those  of  the  provinces  and  the  cities.  The  inequality  had 
been  everywhere ;  it  must  no  longer  exist  anywhere.  The  provin- 
cial deputies  who  had  possessed  the  most  privileges,  and  who  had 
prized  them  most,  set  the  example.  The  Dauphinois  did  what 
they  had  promised  to  do  the  year  before,  when  the  president,  Le 
Chapelier,  renounced,  in  the  name  of  Brittany,  all  that  separated  it 
from  the  rest  of  France ;  the  deputies  of  Provence,  those  of  Langue- 
doc,  those  of  all  the  provinces,  did  the  same;  then  the  advocate, 
Tronchet,  deputy  of  Paris,  renounced  for  the  capital  its  great  privi- 
leges in  the  matter  of  imposts.  Lyons,  Marseilles,  Bordeaux,  all  the 
cities,  followed  the  example  of  Paris. 


54  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

There  was  at  last  a  call  for  the  suppression  of  the  privileges  of 
freemen  and  tradesmen,  of  the  privileges  in  the  monopoly  of  work, 
first  suppressed  by  Turgot. 

The  sitting  had  begun  at  eight  in  the  evening.  Before  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  greatest  social  revolution  the  world  had 
then  seen  had  been  consummated.  There  was  now  in  France,  as  the 
deputies  enthusiastically  declared,  pressing  in  a  crowd  to  the  steps 
of  the  tribune,  —  there  was  now  in  France  but  one  law,  one  nation, 
one  family,  one  title,  that  of  French  citizen. 

"  A  single  night  had  sufficed,"  says  a  contemporary  historian,  "  to 
overthrow  the  ancient  oak  of  feudality,  whose  branches  covered  the 
surface  of  the  French  Empire,  whose  roots  had  exhausted,  through 
so  many  ages,  the  juices  of  its  soil,  and  smote  with  sterility  the 
happy  land  of  France." 

Here  was  the  fruit  of  that  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century 
which  had  infused  into  minds  and  hearts  the  principles  of  right,  of 
justice,  and  of  humanity,  and  which  had,  at  last,  made  the  priv- 
ileged themselves  feel  the  iniquity  of  privileges.  No  people  had 
given  the  example  of  a  transport  so  generous  and  so  sublime.  This 
too  much  surpassed  the  ordinary  conditions  of  human  nature  to  be 
sustained  to  the  end.  Many  men  who,  for  the  moment,  had  been 
transported  beyond  themselves,  repented  their  magnanimous  sacri- 
fice, and  later,  combated  this  Revolution  and  this  country  to  which 
they  had  offered  their  devotion  in  the  sincerity  of  their  souls.  The 
Revolution,  which  they  had  helped  to  inaugurate,  was  to  go  on  and 
be  consummated,  in  spite  of  them  and  against  them. 

History,  nevertheless,  in  rendering  account  of  human  weakness, 
will  not  let  perish  the  memory  of  what  they  did  in  this  night  forever 
glorious. 

The  equality  of  rights  was  established ;  but  this  grand  social  rev- 
olution was  only  the  commencement  of  the  French  Revolution. 
France  had  now  to  enter  upon  an  undertaking  greater,  far  more  dif- 
ficult,—  an  undertaking  which,  after  eighty  years,  is  not  yet  con- 
summated,—  the  founding  of  liberty. 

The  work  of  the  night  of  August  4  was  completed  and  surpassed 


1789.]  THE  NIGHT  OF  AUGUST .  FOURTH.  55 

in  the  days  which  followed.  On  the  6th  of  August,  some  members 
of  the  clergy  having  tried  to  restore  the  collection  of  tithes,  a  young 
deputy  replied  to  them  that  ecclesiastical  estates  belonged  to  the 
nation.  It  was  the  Norman  Buzot,  afterward  one  of  the  chiefs  of 
the  Girondist  party. 

Loud  applause  arose  from  one  side,  and  violent  murmurs  from 
the  other. 

August  8,  a  noble  deputy,  the  Marquis  de  la  Coste,  applying  the 
principle  stated  by  Buzot,  presented  the  plan  of  a  decree,  declar- 
ing, 1st,  that  ecclesiastical  estates  belonged  to  the  nation ;  2d,  that 
the  tithes  should  be  suppressed  without  redemption ;  3d,  that  the 
salaries  of  bishops  and  curates  should  be  fixed  by  the  provincial 
assemblies  ;  4th,  that  the  monastic  orders  should  be  suppressed. 

Another  gentleman,  Alexandre  de  Lameth,  showed  the  essential 
difference  between  the  property  of  citizens,  individual  property, 
which  exists  from  natural  and  not  from  created  law,  and  the  estates 
of  corporations,  which  exist  only  through  the  authorization  of  soci- 
ety, of  the  nation. 

"  Each  citizen,"  said  he,  "  has  sacred  rights  not  derived  from  so- 
ciety, and  which  society  must  not  wrest  from  him ;  but  corpora- 
tions, bodies  politic,  exist  only  for  and  through  society.  It  has 
the  right  to  modify  them  or  to  suppress  them,  and  to  appropriate 
their  benefits,  which  are  not  real  property,  to  the  common  good." 

As  the  minister  Necker  had  recently  displayed  before  the  Assem- 
bly a  very  alarming  picture  of  the  state  of  the  finances,  Lameth 
proposed  that  ecclesiastical  possessions  be  given  as  security  to  the 
creditors  of  the  state. 

Mirabeau  added  that  the  tithe,  far  from  being  property,  was 
remote  even  from  being  a  possession ;  that  it  was  only  an  impost 
designed  for  the  aid  of  worship,  to  furnish  salaries  to  the  ecclesi- 
astics as  officers  of  morality  and  public  instruction. 

Sieyes,  who  had  always  until  now  been  at  the  head  of  the  bold- 
est innovators,  entered  in  an  unexpected  fashion  into  this  debate. 
He  claimed  that  the  tithe  was  not  a  tax,  but  property.  This  asser- 
tion was  little  worthy  of  a  philosopher  such  as  he ;  but  the  reasons 


56  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

with  which  he  opposed  the  pure  and  simple  suppression  of  the  tithe 
were  weighty.  He  said  this  immense  present  ought  not  to  be  made 
to  the  actual  landed  proprietors,  who  had  bought  their  lands  or  in- 
herited them  under  the  condition  of  the  tithe ;  that  such  a  present 
would  be  onerous  to  the  rest  of  the  nation,  who  possessed  no  lands 
at  all,  since  the  final  suppression  of  the  tithes  would  lead  to  a  new 
tax  to  furnish  salaries  for  the  clergy ;  and  he  proposed  that  the  taxes 
be  collected,  willingly  or  unwillingly,  or  at  a  rate  regulated  by  the 
Assembly,  and  that  the  sums  proceeding  from  this  collection  be 
placed  so  as  to  subserve  the  primitive  object  of  tithes,  which  is  the 
maintenance  of  worship  and  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  aid  the  state  by  the  loan  of  a  considerable  capital  at  a  low 
rate  of  interest.  A  reduction  upon  the  assessment  would  be  made 
to  the  small  proprietors,  but  not  to  the  rich. 

The  present  to  be  made  to  the  landed  proprietors  was  greater  even 
than  Sieyes  supposed.  It  was  appraised  at  seventy,  millions  per 
year ;  the  tithes  brought  almost  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions, 
which,  in  our  day,  would  be  at  least  three  hundred  millions.  It 
was,  according  to  Mirabeau,  a  third  of  the  net  revenue  of  the  agri- 
culturist. 

But  the  current  of  opinion  did  not  run  in  this  channel.  The  en- 
tire country,  farmers  and  laborers  as  well  as  proprietors,  wished  the 
pure  and  simple  suppression  of  the  tithes,  that  true  curse  of  agricul- 
ture, which  took  from  the  peasant  even  the  tenth  part  of  the  straw 
in  his  grange.  All  these  descendants  of  the  serfs  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  who  possessed  nooks  of  land  subject  to  the  yearly  tax  and  the 
feudal  rental,  and  who  were  about  to  become  real  proprietors  by  the 
suppression  of  feudal  rights,  passionately  aspired  to  the  suppression 
of  the  odious  tithe,  and  hence  the  Assembly  won  them  irrevocably 
to  the  Revolution. 

After  many  days  of  obstinate  discussion,  the  clergy  yielded. 
Those  of  the  curates  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  tithes  declared  they 
would  restore  them  into  the  hands  of  the  nation.  The  bishops  fol- 
lowed. The  final  suppression  of  the  tithes  was  decreed  on  the  llth 
of  August.  The  other  propositions  of  La  Coste  were  postponed. 


1789.]  THE  NIGHT  OF  AUGUST  FOURTH.  57 

The  abolition  of  first-fruits,  the  tribute  France  paid  to  the  Pope 
upon  the  ecclesiastical  revenues,  was  also  decreed. 

The  joy  of  the  people  was  a  real  delirium.  The  most  resolute 
had  ceased  in  advance  to  discharge  the  feudal  rights  and  the  tithes. 
No  one  paid  them  any  longer.  They  waited  only  until  the  decrees 
of  the  Assembly  had  been  promulgated,  and  the  means  of  execution 
arranged.  As  soon  as  the  hunting  privileges  had  been  abolished, 
although  the  Assembly  had  intended  to  recognize  the  right  of  the 
chase  only  to  proprietors  and  to  farmers,  the  populace  fell  upon  the 
game,  and  there  was  a  universal  massacre  of  furred  and  feathered 
beasts.  It  was  the  vengeance  of  the  people  against  those  pleasures 
of  kings  and  nobles  which  had,  for  so  many  centuries,  humiliated 
and  ruined  them.  None  could  tell  all  the  vexations  what  was 
called  the  captainry  of  the  royal  hunt  had  caused  in  a  radius  of 
twenty  leagues  around  Paris ;  and  so  the  peasants  came  to  kill  the 
king's  partridges  even  to  the  park  of  Versailles. 

The  privileged  classes  in  the  provinces  learned  with  stupefaction 
and  rage  the  tidings  which  caused  such  joy  to  the  people.  They 
could  not  comprehend  how  their  representatives  had  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  borne  onward  to  the  enthusiasm  of  that  night,  which 
they  called  a  night  of  intoxication  and  madness.  The  king,  too, 
was  deeply  troubled  by  this  overthrow  of  the  whole  Ancient  Re*- 
gime,  and  his  devotion  was  alarmed  by  the  abolition  of  the  tithes, 
which  he  had  been  wont  to  regard  as  a  sacred  thing. 

The  greater  the  Revolution  became,  the  more  the  people  feared 
lest  its  results  might  be  disputed  and  its  conquests  not  repeated. 
Strange  incidents  kept  alive  the  public  disquietude.  It  was  said 
that  traitors  had  sought  to  deliver  Brest  to  the  English.  It  was 
the  English  ambassador  himself  who  had  revealed  the  conspiracy 
to  the  French  minister,  declaring  that  his  government  did  not  know 
how  to  profit  by  such  an  offer,  but  without  making  known  the 
names  of  the  guilty  parties.  The  people  believed  in  the  Brest  con- 
spiracy, and  accused  the  nobles ;  but  more  than  one  politician 
thought  it  a  manoauvre  of  the  English  government  to  add  to  the 
discords  of  France.  The  English  prime  minister,  William  Pitt, 


58  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

was  suspected  of  wishing  to  be  revenged  for  the  American  war. 
Despite  the  entreaties  of  Necker  and  despite  the  protestations  of  a 
part  of  the  English  Parliament,  Pitt  had  just  interdicted  the  expor- 
tation of  English  grain  to  France. 

In  Franche-Comte',  near  Vesoul,  a  noble  magistrate,  M.  de  Mes- 
may,  counsellor  to  the  parliament  of  Besanqon,  gave  a  fete  to  the 
peasants  in  his  park.  Suddenly,  amid  the  crowd  who  were  drink- 
ing and  making  merry,  a  cask  of  powder  exploded,  and  many  people 
were  blown  to  atoms.  It  was  later  acknowledged  that  this  was  only 
an  imprudence  and  an  accident ;  but  at  the  first  moment,  a  horrible 
treason  was  suspected  here,  which  redoubled  the  irritation  of  the 
people. 

At  Paris  there  was  another  strange  and  sinister  event.  A  financier, 
who  carried  on  immense  transactions  whose  nature  was  not  well 
known,  and  who  had  in  his  hands  the  money  of  fifteen  hundred 
famiHes,  was  found  dying  in  the  forest  of  Yesinet,  either  by  suicide 
or  assassination.  His  death  was  followed  by  a  colossal  failure  ; 
fifty-four  millions,  we  are  assured.  He  was  believed  to  be  the 
agent  of  the  Famine  League,  and  it  was  thought  that  the  monopo- 
lists had  murdered  him.  Many  of  his  creditors,  not  knowing  in 
what  he  had  employed  their  funds,  were  ruined. 

The  Assembly,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  frightful  and  mysterious 
events,  upon  Duport's  proposition,  thought  necessary  to  institute  an 
investigating  committee  in  regard  to  the  plots  of  the  enemies  of 
the  Eevolution.  But  even  in  its  anxiety  it  remained  nobly  faithful 
to  the  principles  of  right  and  morality.  It  had  seized  the  letters 
addressed  to  Count  d'Artois.  This  fugitive  prince  was  justly  sus- 
pected, but  he  was  not  under  the  ban  of  a  judicial  pursuit.  The 
Assembly,  at  the  advice  of  Le  Chapelier,  of  Mirabeau,  of  Duport 
even,  the  instigator  of  the  investigating  committee,  decided  to 
respect  the  inviolability  of  the  letters. 

Without  allowing  itself  to  be  diverted  from  its  goal  by  these 
agitations,  the  National  Assembly  continued  its  grand  deliberations 
upon  the  principles  of  the  constitution  it  wished  to  give  to  France. 
From  the  llth  of  July,  the  very  day  of  the  beginning  of  the  crisis 


1789.]  THE  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS.  59 

which  had  ended  in  the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  La  Fayette  had  pre- 
sented the  draft  of  A  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS,  to  the  end,  he  said,  of 
making  recognized  by  all  the  essential  verities  of  natural  and  social 
law,  whence  all  institutions  should  proceed. 

July  20,  another  draft  upon  the  same  subject  was  proposed  by 
Sieyes.  There  were  animated  and  prolonged  debates  upon  many  of 
the  different  articles.  Some  deputies,  timid  or  thoroughly  opposed 
to  the  Revolution,  did  not  desire  a  declaration  of  rights  which  should 
solemnly  condemn  all  past  times,  when  the  rights  of  the  man  and 
the  citizen  had  been  trampled  under  foot,  and  which  should  be,  as 
Barnave  said,  the  national  catechism,  of  the  future.  La  Fayette 
gives  in  his  memoirs  the  true  reason  for  which  a  declaration  of 
rights  is  necessary,  far  more  necessary  than  even  a  constitution, 
such  a  declaration  having  for  its  end  the  assertion  not  only  of  the 
rights  of  the  nation  as  opposed  to  its  government,  but  the  rights  of 
individuals  as  opposed  to  the  nation.  There  is  no  true  liberty  or 
order  unless  all  are  persuaded  that  there  are  rights  which  the  ma- 
jority cannot  take  from  the  minority,  not  even  from  a  single  man. 

The  Abbe*  Gregoire  and  another  member  of  the  Assembly  who 
was,  like  him,  at  the  same  time  devoted  to  the  Revolution  and  to 
the  old  Jansenist  belief,  Camus,  deputy  from  Paris,  proposed  to  add 
to  the  declaration  of  rights  that  of  duties.  The  Assembly  found 
difficulty  in  defining  all  duties,  and  some  member  observed  that  the 
declaration  of*  rights  would  -  necessarily  embrace  the  duties  corre- 
sponding to  rights.  Gre'goire  and  Camus  were  right;  but  it  was 
inevitable  that,  after  having  for  so  long  a  time  suffered  from  the 
violation  of  all  natural  rights,  the  Assembly  should  be  especially 
preoccupied  with  proclaiming  them  and  guaranteeing  them.  THE 
DECLARATION  OF  THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  MAN  AND  OF  THE  CITIZEN 
was  adopted  August  26. 

The  Assembly,  without  entering  into  the  detail  of  duties,  acceded 
in  a  certain  measure  to  the  demand  of  Gregoire  and  Camus.  It 
asserted  that  the  aim  of  the  Declaration  of  the  natural,  inalienable, 
and  sacred  Rights  of  the  Man  and  the  Citizen  was  to  incessantly  recall 
their  rights  and  duties  to  all  the  members  of  the  social  body.  It 


60  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

recognized  and  declared,  IN  THE  PRESENCE  AND  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES 
OF  THE  SUPREME  BEING,  the  following  rights  of  the  man  and  of  the 
citizen :  — 

1.  Men  are  born  and  remain  free  and  equal  in  their  rights. 

2.  These  rights  are :    liberty,  property,  safety,  and  resistance  to  op- 
pression. 

3.  The  principle  of  all  sovereignty  resides  in  the  nation.     No  body, 
no  individual,  can  exercise  authority  not  emanating  directly  from  it. 

4.  Liberty  consists  in  the  power  to  do  all  that  which  does  not  injure 
others. 

5.  Law  has  the  right  to  forbid  only  actions  detrimental  to  society. 

6.  Law  is  the  expression  of  the  general  will.     All  citizens  have  the 
right  to  concur  personally  or  through  their  representatives  in  its  enact- 
ment.    It  should  be  the  same  for  all,  whether  it  protect  or  whether  it 
punish.     All  citizens,  being  equal  in  its  eyes,  are  equally  admissible  to  all 
dignities,  public  places,  and  employments,  according  to  their  capacity,  their 
virtue,  and  their  talents. 

7.  No  man  can  be  accused,  arrested,  or  imprisoned,  save  in  cases  deter- 
mined by  law  and  according  to  the  forms  it  has  prescribed. 

8.  The  law  should  establish  only  penalties  strictly  and  evidently  neces- 
sary, and  no  one  can  be  punished  save  in  virtue  of  a  law  established  and 
promulgated  before  the  offence,  and  legally  applied. 

9.  Every  man  being  presumed  innocent  until  he  lias  been  proven  guilty, 
if  it  is  judged  indispensable  to  arrest  him,  every  rigor  jjot  necessary  to 
secure  his  person  should  be  severely  reproved  by  the  law. 

10.  No  one  shall  be  disquieted  on  account  of  his  opinions,  even  his 
religious  ones,  provided   their  manifestation  do  not   disturb   the  public 
order  established  by  law. 

11.  The  free  communication  of  thoughts  and  opinions  is   one  of  the 
most  precious  rights  of  man.     Every  citizen  can  therefore  speak,  write, 
and  print  freely,  except  he  abuse  this  liberty  in  cases  determined  by  law. 

12.  The  guaranty  of  the  rights  of  the  man  and  the  citizen  necessitates 
a  public  force. 

13.  For  the  maintenance  of  the  public  force  and  for  the  expenses  of 
administration,  a  general  tax  is  indispensable.     It  shall  be  equally  divided 
among  all  citizens,  in  proportion  to  their  ability. 


1789.]  THE  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS.  61 

14.  All  citizens  have  the  right  to  aver  of  themselves  or  through  their 
representatives  the  necessity  of  the  public  tax,  to  freely  consent  to  it,  to 
•watch  over   its  distribution,  to  determine  its  quota,  its  assessment,  its 
collection,  and  its  duration. 

15.  Society  has  the  right  to  demand  of  every  public  agent  an  account 
of  his  administration. 

16.  Every  society  in  which  the  guaranty  of  rights  is  not  assured,  nor 
the  division  of  authority  determined,  has  no  constitution. 

17.  Property  being  an  inviolable  and  sacred  right,  no   one   can   be 
deprived  of  it,  unless  when  public   necessity,  legally  averred,  evidently 
demands  it,  and  under  the  condition  of  a  just  and  previously  arranged 
indemnity. 

Such  was  the  form  given  by  the  Assembly  to  the  principles  of 
1789. 

Forms  of  power  have  many  times  changed  since  then ;  ten  con- 
stitutions have  been  adopted;  the  principles  of  1789,  too  often 
violated,  always  arise  anew  with  the  public  spirit.  They  are  above 
all  constitutions  and  all  forms. 

The  Declaration  of  Eights  still  presents  a  very  important  chasm 
upon  the  point  where  the  fathers  were  least  advanced.  The  Decla- 
ration recognizes  the  liberty  of  religious  opinions,  and  not  expressly 
liberty  of  worship.  Mirabeau  had  energetically  declared  against 
the  insufficiency  of  the  article  upon  religious  liberty. 

Here,  too,  should  have  been  established  the  principle  that  every 
agent  of  public  authority  is  responsible.  Mirabeau  had  shown  that 
no  agent  of  power  can,  with  impunity,  execute  an  order  contrary  to 
the  laws. 

Before  the  Declaration  of  Eights  was  drawn  up,  the  Assembly 
had  already  begun  its  debates  upon  the  organization  of  the  powers 
of  the  state.  It  was  decided  that  the  National  Assembly  be  per- 
manent, that  is  to  say,  that  one  Assembly  should  immediately  suc- 
ceed another,  every  two  years. 

Should  the  Assembly  remain  one,  or  should  it  divide  into  two 
chambers  ? 

A  group  of  politicians,  among  whom  was  Mourner,  wishing  to 


62  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

approach  as  near  as  possible  the  English  Constitution,  desired  for 
France,  by  the  side  of  a  house  of  commons,  a  house  of  peers,  if  not 
hereditary  as  in  England  (here  public  opinion  was  divided),  at  least 
nominated  by  the  king.  Others,  among  them  La  Fayette  and  Con- 
dorcet,  whom  the  nobles  had  not  elected  deputy  by  reason  of  his 
popular  opinions,  but  who  continued  to  sustain  the  Revolution  by 
his  writings,  wished  to  have,  like  the  United  States  of  America,  an 
elective  and  temporary  senate,  besides  a  chamber  of  deputies.  But 
the  masses  of  the  Revolutionary  party  felt  that,  in  the  present  state 
of  France,  a  second  chamber  would  be  the  refuge  of  the  great  seign- 
eurs, the  courtiers,  the  bishops,  and  that  in  order  to  carry  on  and 
finish  the  Revolution,  unity  was  necessary.  The  nobles  themselves 
were  for  the  most  part  against  the  idea  of  the  two  chambers,  —  the 
provincial  gentlemen,  through  jealousy  of  the  great  who  would  enter 
a  chamber  of  peers ;  and  most  of  the  courtiers  themselves,  because 
they  imagined  that  with  a  single  chamber  government  would  be 
impossible,  and  there  would  be  a  counter-revolution. 

September  9,  when  they  voted,  there  were  eighty-nine  voices  for 
two  chambers,  and  eight  hundred  and  forty-nine  for  one.  The  ques- 
tion had  been  decided  far  more  by  views  and  sentiments  relevant 
to  the  present  situation,  than  through  general  reasons  and  political 
theories. 

Another  question,  discussed  at  the  same  time,  far  more  excited 
Paris  and  France.  It  was  whether  or  not  the  king  should  have  the 
veto,  that  is,  the  power  to  oppose  the  resolutions  of  the  Assembly 
and  to  refuse  his  sanction  to  the  laws  which  it  had  enacted.  The 
entire  people,  town  as  well  as  country,  saw  or  perceived  in  the  veto 
only  one  thing.  The  king  could  arrest  the  Revolution;  the  king 
could  prevent  the  good  the  Assembly  wished  to  do  the  people. 
One  peasant  said  to  another,  "  The  veto,  do  you  know  what  that 
is  ? "  "  No."  "  Ah  well,  you  have  your  porringer  filled  with  soup  ; 
the  king  says  to  you,  '  Pour  out  the  soup,'  and  you  have  to  pour  it 
out." 

The  discussion  in  the  Assembly  was  not  so  simple  as  this.  The 
majority,  all  who  were  for  the  Revolution,  would  by  no  means  admit 


1789.]  THE  DECLARATION   OF   RIGHTS.  63 

that  the  king  could  prevent  the  Assembly  giving  to  France  a  free 
constitution.  The  most  moderate,  Mounier  himself,  admitted  that 
the  Assembly  represented  the  sovereign  nation,  and  that  the  king 
could  have  only  the  powers  which  should  be  conferred  upon  him  in 
the  constitution  voted  by  the  Assembly.  But  the  constitution  once 
adopted,  the  greater  part  recognized  that  there  might  be  danger  in 
the  ordinary  legislative  Assembly,  which  would  succeed  the  national 
Constituent  Assembly,  having  the  power  to  decree  without  obsta- 
cle or  delay  whatever  laws  it  pleased.  Where  two  chambers  exist, 
the  second  chamber  discusses  the  law  the  first  has  enacted ;  and 
whatever  the  result  of  the  final  vote  may  be,  the  inconvenience  of 
too  hasty  decisions  is  avoided.  As  it  had  been  decided  in  this  case 
that  there  should  be  no  second  chamber,  the  majority  of  the  depu- 
ties sought  to  give  the  king  power  to  arrest  the  decisions  of  the 
legislative  Assembly ;  but  the  timid,  and  those  who  wished  to  leave 
to  royalty  the  greatest  role  possible,  pretended  that  the  king  had 
the  absolute  veto.  Upon  this  point,  Mirabeau,  who  certainly  was 
not  timid,  but  who  was  always  dreaming  of  making  terms  with 
royalty,  sided  with  Mounier.  In  general,  the  members  of  advanced 
opinions  would  not  consent  for  the  king  to  have  the  last  word 
in  presence  of  the  representatives  of  the  people ;  the  most  would 
only  consent  to  grant  him  the  veto  conditionally,  so  that,  if  the 
Assembly  persisted,  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time  the  king  would  be 
obliged  to  yield.  This  was  the  sentiment  of  La  Fayette,  of  Bar- 
nave,  of  Target,  of  Gregoire,  of  Duport,  etc.  A  certain  number,  like 
Sieyes,  did  not  want  the  veto  at  all,  and  the  mass  of  the  people, 
who  enter  little  into  nice  distinctions,  were  of  their  opinion. 

The  Palais  Royal,  which  in  Paris  continued  to  be  the  centre  of 
reunion  for  the  most  radical  men,  echoed  only  with  clamors  against 
the  absolute  veto  and  against  the  deputies  who  sustained  it.  From 
the  evening  of  August  30,  the  Jiabituts  of  the  Palais  Royal  had 
wished  to  go  to  Versailles  to  request  the  Assembly  to  exclude  the 
deputies  who  supported  the  absolute  veto,  and  to  pray  the  king  to 
come  and  establish  himself  in  Paris.  La  Fayette  and  Bailie  firmly 
closed  the  barriers,  and  prevented  this  rabble  from  leaving  Paris. 


64  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

Next  day,  the  ferment  still  increasing,  a  young  writer  named  Lous- 
talot,  who  edited  the  most  popular  of  all  the  new  journals,  Lcs 
Revolutions  de  Paris,  dissuaded  the  habitues  of  the  Palais  Royal 
from  marching  tumultuously  upon  Versailles,  and  persuaded  them 
to  send  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  asking  the  representatives  of  the 
Commune  to  convoke  the  sixty  districts,  so  that  they  might  delib- 
erate there  upon  the  veto  and  upon  the  suspension  of  the  deputies 
suspected  by  the  people.  The  National  Assembly  was  to  be  invited 
to  suspend  its  deliberations  upon  the  veto  until  the  districts  of 
Paris  as  well  as  the  provinces  should  have  pronounced. 

This  would  have  been  to  make  the  essential  power  of  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly  return  to  the  primary  assemblies. 

The  municipal  power  had  been  for  a  month  renewed,  and  the 
Assembly  of  Electors,  which  had  conferred  authority  upon  itself, 
had  been  replaced  by  a  hundred  and  twenty-four  delegates  from  the 
districts,  who  had  taken  the  title  of  "  Assembly  of  Representatives 
from  the  Commune  of  Paris."  The  Assembly  of  the  Commune 
refused  to  discuss  the  propositions  of  the  envoys  from  the  Palais 
Royal,  and  a  second  deputation  becoming  so  excited  as  to  menace 
the  representatives  of  the  Commune,  the  latter  issued  a  very  ener- 
getic decree  against  the  disorders  of  the  Palais  Royal.  The  Cafe* 
de  Foy,  the  centre  of  the  agitators,  was  closed.  The  meetings  of 
the  Palais  Royal  were  dispersed  by  the  national  guard,  acting 
under  the  orders  of  La  Fayette. 

The  national  guard,  which  was  designed  to  embrace  forty-eight 
thousand,  numbered  only  thirty  thousand  armed  and  efficient  men, 
so  that  the  greater  part  of  the  Parisians  remained  outside  its  ranks. 
All  this  began  to  cause  division  among  the  moderate  revolutionists 
and  the  ardent  revolutionists.  There  were  some  arrests.  Camille 
Desmoulins  retired  to  Versailles,  along  with  Mirabeau,  who,  while 
sustaining  the  veto,  remained  allied  to  the  boldest  men. 

Although  the  material  movement  against  the  veto  had  been  thus 
arrested,  in  Paris  by  the  municipal  authority,  it  was  very  evident 
that  the  movement  of  opinion  still  continued.  Addresses  against 
the  veto  kept  arriving  from  the  provincial  towns.  Minister  Necker 


1789.]  THE  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS.  65 

himself  judged  it  imprudent  to  insist  upon  the  absolute  veto,  which 
excited. so  many  passions  against  royalty.  He  openly  pronounced 
himself  of  this  opinion.  September  11,  the  Assembly  voted  the 
conditional  veto  by  a  majority  of  six  hundred  and  seventy-three 
against  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  who  wished  the  absolute 
veto. 

The  conditional  veto,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Assembly,  was  in  no 
way  applicable  to  the  Declaration  of  Eights  nor  to  the  principles  of 
the  Constitution,  among  which  figured  in  the  first  rank  the  decrees 
drawn  up  as  a  sequel  to  the  night  of  August  4.  The  king's  duty 
was  not  to  dictate  them,  but  simply  to  have  them  proclaimed  and 
executed.  The  Assembly  deferred  stating  after  what  delay  the  king 
could  exercise  the  conditional  veto  until  it  had  promulgated  the 
decrees  of  August  4.  They  were  sent  to  him  on  the  12th  of 
September. 

Louis  XVI.,  who,  in  spite  of  his  weakness  and  his  apathy,  always 
cherished  at  heart  the  principles  of  the  ancient  monarchy,  was  far 
from  considering  himself  as  subordinate  to  the  sovereign  nation. 
The  decrees  of  August  4  deeply  wounded  him  in  his  attachment  to 
the  past.  He  found  himself  in  extreme  perplexity  between  the 
parties  which  pushed  him  onward  and  harassed  him  in  every  sense. 
Behind  the  reverberating  movements  of  the  National  Assembly  and 
the  people,  which  took  place  in  the  open  day,  there  were  secret 
cabals  which  each  endeavored  to  draw  into  its  designs  the  people, 
the  king,  or  the  Assembly. 

The  aristocrats,  as  those  had  begun  to  be  called  who  did  not  wish 
for  equality  of  rights  among  the  citizens,  had  recovered  from  the 
stupor  into  which  they  had  been  thrown  by  the  taking  of  the  Bas- 
tille and  the  uprising  of  the  peasants  against  the  chateaux.  The 
nobility,  the  high  clergy,  and  a  portion  of  the  inferior  clergy,  the 
parliaments,  the  financiers,  hated  the  new  order  of  things,  and,  as  a 
noble  deputy  of  the  party  opposed  to  the  Revolution,  the  Marquis 
de  Ferrieres,  says  in  his  memoirs,  "  they  busied  themselves  in  seek- 
ing to  overthrow  it  by  secret  manoeuvres  and  indirect  attacks.  They 
formed  associations,  received  signatures,  and  the  reports  spread 
5 


66  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

abroad   of  civil  war,  of  projects  for  counter-revolution,  were  not 
entirely  devoid  of  foundation." 

The  advanced  Revolutionary  party  did  not  ignore  the  designs  of 
its  enemies,  and  to  resist  them  and  hasten  the  achievement  of  the 
Revolution  it  kept  up  that  fermentation  of  the  popular  masses 
whom  La  Fayette  and  Bailie  retained  in  Paris,  although  La  Fayette 
knew  the  conspiracies  of  the  courtiers  and  the  aristocrats,  and  was 
fully  resolved  not  to  allow  them  to  ripen. 

The  aristocrats  designed  to  carry  away  the  king  to  Metz,  where  a 
general,  ill-disposed  toward  the  Revolution,  the  Marquis  de  Bouille, 
had  in  his  hands  numerous  troops  whom  the  new  spirit  had  not  yet 
won  over. 

During  this  time  a  group  of  deputies,  Malouet  and  others  who 
felt  that  the  Revolution  had  gone  beyond  them,  but  who  still  wished 
neither  civil  war  nor  the  Ancient  Regime,  formed  a  plan  to  trans- 
port the  king  and  the  National  Assembly  to  Tours,  far  from  the 
agitations  of  Paris. 

Outside  of  these  diverse  political  parties  there  were  two  cabals 
which  sought  to  augment  the  disturbances  for  entirely  personal 
interests.  One  was  that  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  led  by  men  daring 
and  skilled  in  intrigue.  The  enormous  fortune  of  the  duke  allowed 
this  faction  to  expend  large  sums  of  money,  and  gave  it  great  means 
of  germinating  disorder. 

The  other  cabal,  which  made  far  less  noise,  and  which  intrigued 
stealthily  and  obscurely,  was  working  for  Monsieur,  Count  of  Pro- 
vence, the  eldest  of  the  king's  two  brothers.  He  had  remained 
when  his  brother  D'Artois  departed.  Talented  and  false,  dissimu- 
lating his  ambition  as  best  he  could,  he  despised  the  good-nature 
and  simplicity  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  hated  Marie  Antoinette,  whom 
more  than  any  person  he  had  helped  defame  through  the  evil  reports 
he  had  spread  about  her.  Since  the  Revolution  was  strongest,  he 
designed  to  make  terms  with  it,  and  when  all  was  in  disorder,  to 
grasp  the  reins  of  government.  He  also  had  great  revenues,  which 
he  used  to  suborn  agents  and  to  keep  up  intrigues. 

Louis  XVI.,  tossed  about  in  every  direction,  stunned  by  all  this 


1789.]  THE  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS.  67 

tumult  and  by  all  these  intrigues,  did  not  stir.  He  decided  to  go 
neither  to  Tours  nor  to  Metz.  The  aristocrats  were  so  irritated  at 
not  having  succeeded  in  enticing  him  away,  that  a  few  of  the  most 
furious,  it  is  said,  conspired  to  assassinate  him.  We  are  assured  that 
the  fatal  stroke  failed  only  because  Count  d'Estaing,  the  brave  admi- 
ral of  the  American  war,  was  informed,  and  warned  the  king. 

Louis  XVI.  was  not,  like  the  aristocrats,  in  favor  of  a  civil  war ; 
but  he  did  not  promulgate  the  decrees  of  August  4,  which  the 
Assembly  had  sent  him.  As  a  pledge  of  good-will  and  to  bring 
him  to  a  decision,  the  Assembly,  on  the  15th  of  September,  voted 
that  the  crown  should  be  hereditary  from  male  to  male,  and  the 
king  inviolable.  This  was  an  attempt  at  conciliation  between  new 
France  and  ancient  royalty. 

The  king  and  Necker  tried  to  have  the  decrees  of  August  4 
modified  by  a  sort  of  memorial  despatched  to  the  Assembly.  The 
Assembly  sent  its  president  to  the  king  to  demand  firmly  the  pure 
and  simple  promulgation  of  the  decrees.  The  king  finally  resigned 
himself  to  having  the  decrees  made  public,  but  without  investing 
them  in  the  forms  of  promulgation  through  which  he  would  have 
accepted  the  responsibility  for  them. 

The  Assembly  was  satisfied,  and  ruled  that  when  the  king  refused 
to  sanction  a  law  passed  by  an  Assembly,  the  succeeding  Assembly 
should  decide  (September  21). 

The  general  situation  of  the  country  was  growing  worse.  The 
ancient  administrative  and  judicial  authorities  were  reduced  to 
impotence,  while  new  ones  were  being  created.  The  ancient  muni- 
cipal authorities  were  replaced  by  popular  provisional  authorities, 
full  of  good-will,  but  also  of  inexperience,  and  beset  by  extreme 
difficulties.  The  people  had  ceased  to  pay  the  most  odious  taxes, 
the  impost  upon  sales  of  merchandise  and  the  excise  upon  salt,  as 
well  as  the  tithes  and  the  feudal  claims.  The  public  treasury  was 
in  distress.  Necker,  who  had  used  credit  so  long  and  with  such 
success,  had  just  sought  recourse  to  it  again.  He  had,  on  the  7th 
of  August,  asked  a  small  loan  of  thirty  millions  for  the  most  urgent 
needs ;  but  the  Assembly  had  committed  the  error  of  lessening  the 


68  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

advantages  Necker  wished  to  offer  to  lenders,  and  which  were  by 
no  means  excessive.  The  loan  was  not  taken.  On  the  27th  of 
August,  Necker  proposed  a  new  loan  of  eighty  millions,  upon  more 
favorable  conditions  to  creditors.  The  Assembly  consented;  but 
the  great  capitalists,  even  those  favorable  to  Necker,  had  no  longer 
either  good- will  or  confidence.  The  second  loan  was  also  a  failure. 

There  was  then  a  generous  transport  in  the  people.  The  capitalists 
had  not  wished  to  lend.  Citizens  of  all  conditions  gave.  Women, 
young  girls,  brought  their  chains,  their  golden  jewels,  to  the  bureau 
of  the  National  Assembly.  Day  laborers  and  domestics  were  seen 
clubbing  together  to  offer  a  portion  of  their  earnings  or  their  sal- 
aries. 

These  sacrifices,  which  attested  the  generosity  and  patriotism  of 
their  authors,  could  not  suffice  to  fill  the  state  coffers.  Septem- 
ber 24,  Necker,  as  a  last  effort,  proposed  an  extraordinary  contri- 
bution of  a  quarter  of  all  the  net  revenues.  This  proposition  was 
to  be  submitted  to  the  citizens.  The  Assembly  sanctioned  it,  but 
in  view  of  the  poverty  of  some  and  the  embarrassments  of  others,  in 
view  of  the  bad  state  of  commercial  and  industrial  affairs,  this  expe- 
dient was  very  uncertain.  The  Assembly  added  an  invitation  to 
all  good  citizens  to  bring  to  the  banking-houses  their  silver  plate 
and  their  gold  ornaments.  They  asked  also  the  silver  plate  of  the 
churches. 

The  material  situation  of  Paris  did  not  improve.  There  was 
everywhere,  and  in  all  ranks,  a  reaction  against  the  executive  power, 
very  natural  after  the  enormous  abuse  so  long  made  of  this  po\ver 
by  kings,  ministers,  intendants,  and  their  subordinates;  but  this 
reaction  made  the  administration  difficult,  even  to  the  magistrates 
elected  by  the  people.  The  representative  assembly  of  the  Paris 
Commune  wished  to  administer  all  through  its  committees,  and 
would  leave  no  important  matter  to  the  authority  of  the  mayor. 
And  furthermore,  the  sixty  districts  would  often  act  each  according 
to  its  fancy,  not  at  all  regarding  the  decisions  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

If  things  had  been  in  their  ordinary  condition,  only  some  slight 
embarrassments  and  delays  would  have  resulted  from  all  this ;  but 


1789.]  THE  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS.  69 

the  public  suffering  was  extreme ;  wages  were  at  the  lowest  point, 
and  a  large  number  of  people  were  absolutely  out  of  work 

The  scarcity  of  bread  should  have  been  lessened,  for  the  harvest 
had  been  good,  but  criminal  manoeuvres,  of  which  avarice  was  not 
the  only  nor  even  the  principal  cause,  kept  up  a  fictitious  dearth. 
The  memoirs  of  the  time,  among  them  those  of  La  Fayette,  who 
was  in  a  position  to  be  well  informed,  attest  that  there  were  actual 
conspiracies  to  make  bread  scarce  in  Paris.  The  signatures  of 
Necker  and  of  La  Fayette  were  several  times  forged  so  as  to  give 
counter-orders  to  convoys  of  flour  directed  to  the  capital,  and  this 
at  times  when  Mayor  Bailie,  who  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the 
cares  of  subsistence,  did  not  always  know  at  midnight  if  Paris 
would  have  bread  for  the  next  morning.  Those  of  the  workmen 
and  the  small  tradesmen  who  had  still  a  little  work  were  obliged 
to  lose  whole  hours  standing  in  a  line  at  the  door  of  bakers' 
shops.  The  city,  in  the  midst  of  great  enough  sacrifices,  had 
lowered  the  price  of  bread  to  twelve  sous  and  a  half  for  four 
pounds.  This  was  still  an  oppressive  price  for  people  who  earned 
so  little.  The  bakers,  at  least  a  large  portion  of  them,  aggravated 
the  difficulty  by  practices  of  which  Bailie  complains  in  his  me- 
moirs ;  they  provoked  against  themselves  dangerous  resentments. 
The  exasperated  people  thought  they  saw  monopolists  every- 
where. 

There  must  inevitably  be  some  great  popular  *explosion.  Except 
the  little  group  of  Mounier  and  his  friends,  all  parties  were  pushing 
toward  one  movement:  the  aristocrats  wished  it  because  they 
desired  to  turn  it  against  the  National  Assembly,  by  rendering  that 
body  responsible  for  the  distress  it  ought  to  relieve,  so  they  said, 
since  the  Assembly  had  now  the  power  in  its  hands ;  the  revolu- 
tionists wished  it  to  forestall  their  enemies  by  a  new  14th  of  July, 
and  to  bring  back  the  king  to  Paris,  so  that  he  could  not  become, 
there  or  elsewhere,  the  instrument  of  the  civil  war  and  the  counter- 
revolution. They  aided  in  spreading  the  opinion  which  began  to 
be  credited  among  the  people,  that  to  have  the  king  in  Paris  was  to 
have  bread. 


70  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

As  for  the  Orleans  party  and  the  coterie  of 'Monsieur,  they  stirred 
up  agitation  so  as  to  fish  in  troubled  waters. 

Provocations  from  the  court  hastened  on  the  final  outbreak. 

The  queen,  and  those  around  her  who  did  not  despair  of  at  last 
carrying  away  the  king  to  Metz,  tried,  meantime,  to  gather  some 
forces  at  Versailles.  There  were  already  here  four  hundred  body- 
guards, aristocratic  cavaliers  with  the  rank  of  officers,  a  regiment  of 
Swiss  guards,  and  a  squadron  of  mounted  chasseurs.  Many  officers 
and  gentlemen  arrived  from  all  points  of  France.  The  royalists 
sent  for  the  Flanders  regiment  of  infantry,  upon  which  they  be- 
lieved they  could  rely.  They  tried  to  gain  over  the  national  guard 
of  Versailles.  October  1,  the  body-guards  offered  a  banquet  to  the 
officers  of  the  Flanders  regiment  and  to  those  of  the  other  corps. 
The  court  paid  the  expense  of  this  sumptuous  feast,  which  took 
place  in  the  theatrical  hall  of  the  palace.  The  ladies  of  the  court 
were  present  in  the  boxes.  The  soldiers  were  allowed  to  enter  at 
dessert.  The  queen  appeared,  followed  by  the  king,  and  made  the 
tour  of  the  tables,  bearing  the  little  dauphin  in  her  arms.  She  was 
received  with  enthusiasm.  After  her  departure  the  exaltation 
amounted  to  delirium.  The  body-guards,  who  had  retained  the 
white  cockade,  made  the  other  officers  take  it.  They  tore  off  the 
tricolored  cockades.  The  trumpets  sounded  the  charge.  They 
scaled  the  boxes,  sword  in  hand,  as  if  they  would  have  made  an 
assault  upon  Paris* 

These  bravados  continued  on  the  following  days.  The  uniform 
of  the  national  guard  was  not  received  in  the  king's  palace.  The 
ladies  of  the  court  distributed  white  cockades  to  all  who  entered  the 
palace. 

Some  aristocrats  promenaded  through  Paris  wearing  the  white 
cockades  taken  at  Versailles. 

The  cockades  were  torn  from  them.  One  of  the  officers  was  hung 
to  a  lamp-post.  All  through  the  day  of  October  4,  Paris  was  in  a 
terrible  ferment.  The  women  were  even  more  excited  than  the 
men.  They  were  the  ones  who  had  been  most  cruelly  tried  in  their 
own  persons  and  in  their  children  by  bitter  poverty;  and  this 


ROBESPIERRE. 


1789.]       THE  FIFTH  AND  SIXTH  DAYS  OF  OCTOBER.  71 

poverty,  in  their  opinion,  came  only  from  the  wickedness  of  the 
aristocrats.  Those  who  were  not  suffering  for  themselves  suffered 
in  seeing  the  misfortune  of  others.  On  the  evening  of  the  4th,  a 
woman,  well  dressed  and  of  good  appearance,  went  to  the  Palais 
Eoyal  to  harangue  the  crowd  and  urge  them  to  march  to  Versailles. 

The  next  day,  October  5,  early  in  the  morning,  a  young  girl  en- 
tered a  corps  of  the  guard,  took  a  drum,  and  beat  the  generate.  The 
women  of  the  market-place  followed  her ;  they  drew  along  with  them 
through  the  streets  all  they  met,  women  of  all  conditions,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  crying,  "Bread  and  arms!"  The 
guard  at  first  stopped  them ;  then,  unable  to  decide  to  use  arms 
against  women,  let  them  enter  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

They  clamored  loudly  against  the  municipal  authorities,  who,  they 
said,  did  nothing  for  the  people.  The  most  violent  threatened  to 
set  the  hotel  on  fire.  A  man,  firm,  cool,  and  resolute,  succeeded  in 
making. them  listen  to  reason.  He  was  a  hussar  named  Maillard. 

Bands  of  people  of  ferocious  mien,  armed  with  staffs  and  pikes, 
among  whom  were  men  dressed  as  women,  arrived  in  their  turn, 
forced  the  magazines  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  took  all  the  arms 
they  contained.  The  commotion  was  frightful.  The  movement 
might  turn  upon  itself,  and  great  calamities  were  to  be  feared  in 
Paris.  Maillard  had  a  call  beaten  on  the  Place  de  Gre've.  The 
women  began  to  gather  around  him.  He  offered  to  place  himself  at 
their  head,  and  to  lead  them  to  Versailles.  His  tall  stature  and  his 
sombre  physiognomy  overawed  the  women.  They  cried,  "  This  is 
one  of  the  conquerors  of  the  Bastille."  The  women  accepted  him 
for  captain.  They  departed  with  him,  seven  or  eight  thousand  of 
them  and  some  hundreds  of  armed  men,  dragging  along  two  cannon 
taken  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  She  who  yesterday  had  first  pro- 
posed to  go  to  Versailles  was  there,  sabre  in  hand,  seated  upon  one 
of  the  cannon.  "  Let  us  go  and  seek  the  baker  and  his  wife ! "  cried 
the  women. 

The  band  increased  along  the  way,  and  Maillard  in  a  great  meas- 
ure deprived  it  of  its  menacing  aspect ;  he  represented  to  the  women 
that  it  would  not  be  proper  to  present  themselves  in  arms  to  the 


72  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

National  Assembly,  and  he  persuaded  the  greater  part  of  them  to 
give  up  the  pikes,  the  sabres,  the  staffs,  they  bore.  He  kept  them 
from  pillaging  along  the  route,  at  Chaillot,  and  at  Sevres,  although 
they  were  very  hungry. 

During  the  march  of  the  women  upon  Versailles,  a  stormy  deliber- 
ation took  place  in  the  National  Assembly.  After  the  decrees  of  the 
night  of  August  4,  the  Assembly  had  sent  to  the  king  its  DECLARA- 
TION OF  EIGHTS.  The  king  had  just  written  to  the  Assembly  that 
he  acceded  to  the  first  articles  of  the  Constitution,  which  had  been 
presented  to  him,  without  regarding  them  as  perfect,  and,  out  of 
respect  for  the  present  wishes  of  representatives  of  the  nation,  but 
with  the  positive  condition  that  the  executive  power  be  fully  re- 
stored to  his  hands.  He  did  not  give  his  opinion  upon  the  Declara- 
tion of  Rights. 

The  majority  of  the  Assembly,  already  much  disquieted  and  irri- 
tated at  what  had  passed  at  the  palace,  illy  received  the  king's 
response.  A  deputy  as  yet  little  known,  who  showed  none  of  the 
brilliant  eloquence  or  the  elegant  and  supple  talent  of  the  most 
accredited  orators  of  the  Assembly,  but  who  constantly  maintained 
the  most  advanced  opinions  with  force  and  violence,  and  with  an 
air  of  profound  conviction,  said  that  the  king,  in  attempting  to  im- 
pose a  condition  upon  the  Constitution,  placed  his  will  above  the 
rights  of  the  nation  ;  that  it  wras  not  for  the  executive  power  to 
criticise  the  constituent  power  from  which  it  emanated ;  and  that 
the  king's  response  was  the  negation  of  the  whole  national  Constitu- 
tion. This  deputy  was  a  young  advocate  of  Arras ;  his  name  was 
MAXIMILIAN  ROBESPIERRE. 

He  was  a  little  meagre  man,  with  a  melancholy  visage,  a  disa- 
greeable voice,  a  tiresome  delivery.  They  treated  him  disdainfully 
enough  in  the  Assembly ;  but  Mirabeau  had  divined  his  strength. 
"  This  man  will  go  a  great  way,"  said  he  ;  "  he  'believes  all  he  says." 

A  deputy  from  Chartres,  Petion,  who  was  later  to  play  a  role  of 
some  importance,  denounced  "  the  orgie  of  the  body-guards."  An 
aristocratic  deputy  called  upon  Petion  to  sign  and  place  his  denun- 
ciation upon  the  desk.  Mirabeau  rose,  and  declared  that  if  they 


1789.]      THE  FIFTH  AND  SIXTH  DAYS  OF  OCTOBER.  73 

persisted  in  thus  putting  at  defiance  the  denunciator,  he  would  sign, 
he  himself  with  Petion,  and  would  reveal  all  the  facts ;  "  but,"  added 
he,  "  beforehand,  I  demand  that  the  Assembly  declare  the  person  of 
the  king  only  inviolable,  and  every  other  person,  without  exception, 
responsible  before  the  law."  This  was  plainly  designating  the  queen. 

The  Assembly  waived  this  redoubtable  question,  and  decided  that 
the  president  at  the  head  of  a  deputation  should  go  to  demand  of 
the  king  his  acceptance,  pure  and  simple,  of  the  Declaration  of 
Eights  and  of  the  first  articles  of  the  Constitution. 

Soon  after,  a  great  clamor  was  heard.  The  women  had  arrived. 
They  had  entered  Versailles,  singing  "  Vive  Henri  IV. ! "  and  shout- 
ing "  Vive  le  roi ! "  and  the  people  of  Versailles  had  received  them 
with  cries  of,  "  Long  live  the  Parisiennes ! " 

A  deputation  of  women,  Maillard  at  their  head,  appeared  before 
the  Assembly.  Maillard  exposed  to  the  Assembly  with  a  sombre 
energy  the  distress  of  the  capital,  and  accused  the  aristocrats  of 
conspiring  to  starve  the  Parisians.  He  implored  the  Assembly  to 
force  the  body-guard  to  assume  the  national  cockade.  After  some 
tumultuous  incidents,  in  which  the  women's  orator  was  repeatedly 
called  to  order  by  Mounier,  who  presided  that  day,  and  applauded 
by  the  majority,  it  was  announced  that  the  body-guards  accepted 
the  tricolored  cockade.  The  women  then  cried,  "Long  live  the 
body-guards ! " 

The  crisis  seemed  to  be  less  imminent.  It  was  decided  that  Presi- 
dent Mounier  and  the  deputation  from  the  Assembly  make  known  to 
the  king  the  excess  of  the  suffering  in  Paris.  The  women  followed 
the  president  in  a  great  troop.  The  body-guards  thought  it  a  riot, 
and  charged  into  the  crowd.  Rage  rekindled  against  them. 

The  deputation  from  the  Assembly,  meantime,  succeeded  in  en- 
tering the  palace  with  a  few  of  the  women.  The  king  received  the 
Parisians  well,  and  gave  them  an  order,  written  by  his  own  hand,  for 
the  transportation  of  grain  to  Paris. 

The  Assembly,  on  its  side,  passed  a  decree  ordering  all  the  mu- 
nicipalities to  allow  free  passage  to  the  grain  destined  for  the 
capital. 


74  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

A  small  number  of  women  left  with  Maillard  for  Paris,  bearing 
the  king's  letter. 

Most  of  the  women  and  the  bands  of  armed  men  who  had  joined 
them  remained.  Bread  had  been  promised  them  to  induce  them  to 
depart.  The  municipality  of  Versailles,  which  still  belonged  to  the 
court  party,  was  so  impolitic  as  not  to  keep  its  word.  This  mad- 
dened, famishing  crowd  remained  upon  the  Place  d'Armes  in  the 
face  of  soldiers  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle.  The  Flanders  regiment, 
already  under  the  influence  of  the  Revolutionary  party,  let  the 
women  invade  its  ranks  and  gave  them  cartouches.  There  were 
collisions  between  the  body-guards  and  the  mob.  The  Versailles 
national  guard  took  the  part  of  the  Parisians,  and  shots  were 
exchanged  between  them  and  the  body-guards.  The  latter  were 
driven  back  into  the  park.  The  horse  of  a  body-guardsman  had 
been  killed ;  the  starving  mob  lighted  a  fire,  roasted  the  horse,  and 
ate  the  flesh  half  raw. 

The  king  replied  to  the  women  in  regard  to  the  supplies  of  Paris, 
but  he  had  not  replied  to  the  president  of  the  Assembly  in  regard 
to  the  Declaration  of  Eights.  In  vain  President  Mounier  insisted. 
The  king  was  deliberating  with  his  ministers  and  with  the  queen. 
In  the  evening  a  despatch  from  La  Fayette  was  received  at  the  pal- 
ace, announcing  that  at  command  of  the  municipality  of  Paris  he 
was  about  to  march  with  the  national  guard  for  Versailles.  The 
queen  and  several  of  the  ministers  urged  the  king  to  depart ;  this 
would  have  been  to  declare  civil  war.  Necker  besought  the  king  to 
go  to  Paris,  to  confide  himself  to  the  people,  to  have  confidence  in 
the  new  Constitution  and  the  Assembly. 

Against  his  own  better  judgment,  Louis  XVI.  yielded  to  the  en- 
treaties of  the  queen.  The  order  for  departure  was  given. 

It  was  too  late.  The  national  guard  of  Versailles  prevented  the 
carriages  passing  the  barred  gate  of  the  Dragon.  The  king  was 
blockaded  in  his  palace.  He  signed  the  Declaration  of  Plights  and 
handed  it  back  to  Mounier. 

La  Fayette  had  for  some  hours  resisted  the  people  and  the  na- 
tional guard,  who  wished  him  to  lead  them  to  Versailles.  Since 


1789.]      THE  FIFTH  AND  SIXTH  DAYS  OF  OCTOBER.  75 

the  banquet  of  the  body-guards  there  had  been  no  dissension 
between  the  national  guard  and  the  populace.  La  Fayette,  on 
horseback  at  the  Place  de  Greve,  for  a  long  time  restrained  the 
movement,  risking  Ms  popularity  and  his  life.  At  last,  toward  five 
o'clock,  the  representative  assembly  of  the  Commune,  judging  it 
impossible  to  resist  longer,  sent  to  the  commandant  of  the  national 
guard  an  order  to  march.  La  Fayette  departed  with  fifteen  thou- 
sand guards,  followed  by  thousands  of  the  people. 

Before  entering  Versailles  he  made  his  army  swear  fidelity  to  the 
nation,  to  the  law,  and  to  the  king.  The  rain  had  retarded  his 
march.  He  did  not  arrive  until  midnight.  He  first  went  to  explain 
to  the  National  Assembly  the  motives  of  his  coming ;  then  he  pre- 
sented himself  before  the  palace  gate  alone,  between  two  emissaries 
from  the  Commune.  He  entered  courageously  into  this  palace  filled 
with  his  enemies.  A  courtier,  at  sight  of  him,  exclaimed,  "  Here 
is  Cromwell ! "  "  Cromwell  would  not  enter  alone,"  responded 
La  Fayette. 

La  Fayette,  in  fact,  was  very  far  from  imitating  Cromwell,  and 
seeking  to  usurp  supreme  power.  He  sought  the  king ;  he  made 
known  to  him,  sincerely  but  respectfully,  the  situation.  The  king 
declared  that  he  had  no  intention  of  leaving,  and  that  he  would  not 
•withdraw  himself  from  the  National  Assembly.  He  authorized  the 
national  guard  of  Paris  to  occupy  the  outer  posts.  Those  of  the 
interior  of  the  palace  remained  to  the  regular  soldiers. 

Toward  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  all  seemed  quiet.  The 
National  Assembly  adjourned,  after  having  procured  some  provisions 
for  the  mob.  The  greater  portion  of  the  Parisians  and  the  national 
guard  sought  shelter  as  they  could,  in  churches,  in  cellars  and  cafe's. 
And  yet  people  remained  crouched  upon  the  square,  around  large 
fires;  and  at  five  in  the  morning,  bands  of  men  of  evil  aspect 
and  badly  armed  began  to  pace  up  and  down  before  the  palace. 
Toward  six,  these  people  had  scaled  or  forced  the  iron  fences  of  the 
two  courts,  Le  Prince  and  La  Chapelle,  which  had  not  been  confided 
to  the  national  guard. 

There  now  remained  in  the  palace  only  a  handful  of  body-guards. 


76  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  III. 

The  court,  seeing  it  had  no  means  of  carrying  away  the  king  or  of 
fighting,  had  caused  the  greater  part  of  this  select  corps  to  depart 
from  Versailles.  One  of  the  invaders  fell,  struck  by  a  shot  probably 
fired  by  a  body-guard.  The  mob,  which  kept  increasing,  rushed 
furiously  onward,  penetrated  the  marble  court,  invaded  the  grand 
staircase,  forced  the  hall  of  the  guards,  which  joined  the  queen's 
apartments,  killed  two  body-guards  and  wounded  others.  The 
body-guards  barricaded  themselves  in  what  is  called  the  QEil-de- 
Bceuf  (Bull's  Eye),  resolved  to  die  to  save  the  queen.  Marie 
Antoinette  fled  half  dressed  to  the  king's  apartments,  while  one  of 
her  ladies  carried  the  little  dauphin.  There  was  a  moment  of  terri- 
ble anguish.  The  king's  door  was  closed  and  bolted ;  Louis  XVI. 
was  not  in  his  apartments,  but  was  hastening  to  the  queen's  apart- 
ments by  another  passage.  Marie  Antoinette  knocked  loudly,  while 
furious  cries  and  shots  re-echoed  only  a  few  feet  distant. 

The  body-guards  who  were  defending  the  QEil-de-Boeuf  believed 
themselves  lost ;  the  door  trembled,  when  suddenly  the  uproar  of 
attack  ceased.  There  was  a  cry  outside,  "  Open,  Messieurs  body- 
guards !  You  once  saved  us  at  Fontenoy,  we  return  you  the  favor 
to-day."  These  were  the  ancient  French  guards,  now  boon  com' 
panions  of  the  national  guard  of  Paris.  At  their  head  was  a  young 
sergeant,  of  a  very  fine  and  very  noble  figure,  who  afterwards  became 
the  illustrious  General  Hoche. 

The  hired  grenadiers  of  the  national  guard,  sent  by  La  Fayette, 
made  way  through  the  assailants.  La  Fayette  arrived  a  moment 
after,  and  wrested  from  the  invaders  the  body-guards  they  were 
about  to  hang  in  one  of  the  courts ;  then  he  went  up  to  the  palace, 
where  at  this  moment  the  national  guards  were  dispersing  the 
"  brigands  "  who  had  begun  to  pillage.  The  band  which  had  pen- 
etrated into  the  palace  was  composed  of  a  small  number  of  men 
who  cherished  a  frantic  hatred  against  Marie  Antoinette,  and  who 
wished  to  strangle  her,  and  of  a  much  greater  number  of  malefactors 
who  had  followed  the  women  and  the  national  guard  only  in  the 
hope  of  finding  rich  booty  in  the  palace  of  Versailles.  La  Fayette 
presented  his  national  guards  to  the  king,  and  they  swore  to  Louis 
XVI.  to  die  in  his  defence. 


iA  ., 

Ml     P< 

->>ilvlf    '.U'.A  -v:^M\i\!fi 


^i  yi  II 


wSW'i^, 

»-: 

:    h 


MARIE  ANTOINETTE. 


1789.]      THE  FIFTH  AND  SIXTH  DAYS  OF  OCTOBER.  77 

National  guards  and  people  thronged  all  the  palace  courts,  and 
with  immense  clamors  called  for  the  king.  Louis  XVI.  appeared 
on  the  balcony  of  the  marble  court.  They  cried  on  all  sides,  "Vive 
le  roi !  Le  roi  a  Paris  ! " 

The  king  entered  the  palace;  the  people  called  for  the  queen. 
Marie  Antoinette  hesitated. 

"  Madame,"  said  La  Fayette,  "  come  with  me." 

"  What !  alone  to  the  balcony ! " 

She  had  seen  and  heard  the  terrible  menaces  the  mob  had  made 
her. 

"  Yes,  madame,  let  us  go  out  there  ! " 

"  Ah  well !  if  I  must  go  to  torture  and  to  death,  I  will  go  ! " 

And,  holding  her  little  son  and  daughter  by  the  hand,  she 
appeared  on  the  balcony. 

La  Fayette  said  nothing  to  the  people ;  in  this  loud  uproar  he 
would  not  have  been  heard.  He  bent  and  kissed  the  queen's  hand. 

At  sight  of  this  mother  between  her  two  children,  at  sight  of  this 
sign  of  reconciliation  between  the  queen  and  the  general-in-chief  of 
the  Parisians,  the  people  were  affected,  and  cried  loudly,  "Long 
live  the  general !  Long  live  the  queen ! " 

Louis  XVI.  implored  La  Fayette  to  do  something  also  for  his 
guards. 

"  Bring  me  one  of  them,"  said  La  Fayette. 

A  body-guardsman  presented  himself.  La  Fayette  gave  him  his 
tricolored  cockade  and  embraced  him.  The  people  shouted,  "  Long 
live  the  body-guards ! "  National  guards  and  body-guards  now 
fraternized,  exchanging  caps  and  hats. 

The  king  announced  his  consent  to  go  to  Paris. 

Upon  Mirabeau's  motion,  the  National  Assembly  decreed  itself 
inseparable  from  the  king  during  its  actual  session,  which  meant 
that  it  would  accompany  him  to  Paris.  One  hundred  members 
were  delegated  to  escort  the  king.  Towards  ten  o'clock  of  the 
morning  Louis  XVI.  and  the  royal  family  left  the  palace  of  Louis 
XIV.  Royalty  was  never  to  enter  that  palace  again.  A  procession 
of  sixty  thousand  souls,  men  of  the  people,  women,  national  guards, 


78  -  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION".  [CHAP.  III. 

slowly  conducted  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette  from  Versailles 
to  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The  women  sung  and  danced  before  the 
royal  carriage,  shouting,  "  We  shall  want  bread  no  more !  We  are 
carrying  off  the  baker  and  his  wife !  " 

It  is  not  true,  as  has  often  been  stated,  that  they  carried  before 
the  king,  at  the  end  of  pikes,  the  heads  severed  from  the  murdered 
guardsmen.  Never  would  La  Fayette  or  the  national  guards  have 
suffered  such  a  thing.  The  bandits  had  carried  away  that  morning 
to  Paris  the  heads  of  the  two  body-guards  massacred  on  their  inva- 
sion of  the  palace.  The  representatives  of  the  Commune  ordered 
their  arrest. 

When  the  king  and  queen  entered  the  grand  hall  of  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  where  a  throne  had  been  erected,  Mayor  Bailie  announced 
to  the  representatives  of  the  Commune,  that  the  king  with  pleasure 
saw  himself  once  more  in  the  midst  of  the  inhabitants  of  his  good 
city  of  Paris. 

"  Add  with  confidence"  said  the  queen. 

"  Gentlemen,"  replied  Bailie,  "  you  are  more  happy  than  if  I  had 
said  it  myself." 

The  Assembly  of  the  Commune  applauded,  then  also  the  people 
who  covered  the  Place  de  Greve,  when  the  royal  family  appeared  at 
the  windows  between  torches. 

From  the  Hotel  de  Ville  the  royal  family  went  to  lodge  at  the 
Tuileries,  empty  and  dismantled  since  the  Eegency. 

Upon  the  following  days,  whenever  the  king  appeared  on  the 
balcony  or  in  the  gardens  of  £he  Tuileries,  he  was  loudly  cheered 
by  the  populace.  Paris  still  sincerely  wished  to  be  upon  good 
terms  with  ancient  royalty,  and  many  believed  the  Eevolution 
ended.  But  during  this  time  the  man  who  on  the  6th  of  October 
wras  still  presiding  over  the  National  Assembly,  the  man  who  in 
1788  had  begun  the  Revolution  at  the  head  of  the  Dauphinois, 
wrho  had  since  drawn  up  the  Oath  of  the  Tennis-Court,  had  with- 
drawn to  return  no  more.  The  violence  of  those  October  days,  the 
constraint  imposed  upon  the  king  in  taking  him  to  Paris,  had  for 
all  time  alienated  Mounier.  He  was  not  lacking  in  firmness  of 


1789.]      THE  FIFTH  AND  SIXTH  DAYS  OF  OCTOBER.  79 

soul ;  he  had  well  proved  this  :  he  failed  in  boldness  of  mind ;  he 
had  not  measured  the  depth  of  the  Revolution  he  had  so  much 
contributed  to  bring  about.  La  Fayette  in  vain  had  tried  to  de- 
monstrate to  him  that  they  could  prevent  the  Revolution  becom- 
ing more  terrible  only  by  uniting  to  regulate  it  and  to  finish  it. 
He  retired  to  Dauphine  and  tried,  but  without  success,  to  excite  a 
reaction  in  his  province.  Dauphine  remained  with  Barnave  for  the 
Eevolution.  Mounier  emigrated  to  Geneva. 

A  great  number  of  deputies,  after  his  departure,  left  the  As- 
sembly. 

The  first  emigration,  that  of  Count  d'Artois  and  the  Polignacs, 
had  been  only  the  flight  of  vanquished  counter-revolutionists.  The 
second  emigration,  that  of  Mounier,  was  the  first  secession  among 
the  friends  of  the  Revolution.  Mournful  presage,  secession  which 
was  to  be  followed  by  so  many  others,  among  conflicts  more  and 
more  formidable,  and  whose  like  the  world  had  never  seen ! 


80  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY   (continued).  —  THE  CIVIL  CONSTITUTION 

OF  THE  CLERGY. 

October,  1789,  to  June,  1790. 

IT  was  now  the  duty  of  the  Assembly  to  organize  new  France 
after  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  decrees  of  the  night  of 
August  4,  and  in  the  Declaration  of  Eights. 

The  Assembly  well  employed  its  last  sessions  at  Versailles  after 
the  king's  departure  for  Paris.  October  7,  it  decreed  that  all  public 
imposts  and  charges  be  supported  by  Frenchmen  in  proportion  to 
their  means  and  ability,  and  that  the  tax  be  voted  annually. 

On  the  9th  was  decreed  the  provisional  reform  of  the  criminal 
process,  a  measure  urgently  demanded  by  La  Fayette  the  month 
before.  The  municipalities  were  to  choose  assessors  to  be  present 
at  the  charges  of  judges  in  criminal  trials.  The  right  to  choose 
his  counsel  was  to  be  granted  the  accused,  who  must  be  publicly 
examined  within  twenty-four  hours.  Torture  was  peremptorily 
abolished;  four  fifths  of  the  judges  must  concur  in  pronouncing 
condemnation  to  death,  and  two  thirds  in  pronouncing  any  other 
sentence,  penal  or  ignominious. 

October  10,  in  its  promulgation  of  the  laws,  the  Assembly  sup- 
pressed the  despotic  formula  in  which  the  king  says,  "From  our 
certain  knowledge,  full  power,  and  royal  authority,  —  for  such  is 
our  pleasure."  The  formula  henceforth  was  to  be,  "  Louis,  by  the 
grace  of  God  and  the  law  of  the  realm,  king  of  France :  The 
National  Assembly  has  decreed,  and  we  will  and  ordain  as  fol- 
lows." 

This  change  said  that  the  king  was  the  chief  of  French  citizens, 


1789.]  THE   CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  81 

and  no  longer  the  feudal  monarch  who  inherited  the  soil  of  France 
as  a  piece  of  property. 

October  10,  the  Assembly  resumed  its  discussion  upon  the  estates 
of  the  clergy.  The  abolition  of  tithes  had  ended  the  first  part  of 
this  discussion.  It  remained  to  decide  upon  the  landed  property. 
Beside  the  tithes,  which  produced  almost  one  hundred  and  twenty 
millions,  the  clergy  had  immense  landed  possessions,  affording  a 
revenue  of  eighty  millions.  In  the  greater  portion  of  France  they 
possessed  from  a  quarter  to  a  third  of  the  lands ;  half  in  certain 
provinces,  as  Franche-Comte,  Roussillon,  and  Alsace ;  and  far  more 
than  half  in  Hainault  and  Artois;  almost  the  entire  province  of 
Cambresis  belonged  to  the  clergy. 

Before  the  abolition  of  the  tithes,  this  gave  to  the  clergy  two 
hundred  millions  of  revenue,  without  counting  thirty  millions  which 
the  nation  paid  for  the  costs  of  worship,  the  maintenance  of  eccle- 
siastical edifices,  perquisites  to  curates,  etc.,  two  hundred  and  thirty 
millions  in  all,  which  would  be  almost  six  hundred  millions  to- 
day. 

Of  this  two  hundred  and  thirty  millions,  only  forty -five  reverted 
to  parish  priests ;  all  the  rest  went  to  the  high  clergy  and  to  the 
monks. 

It  was  a  noble  who  had  proposed  the  declaration  that  all  eccle- 
siastical endowments  belonged  to  the  nation ;  it  was  a  bishop  who 
seconded  the  motion,  the  Bishop  of  Autun,  Talleyrand  de  Perigord, 
a  young  prelate  of  a  great  family,  very  talented,  a  Voltairian  of  loose 
morals,  whom  ambition  and  a  taste  for  new  things  had  led  to  join 
the  Revolutionists.  His  political  role,  like  that  of  La  Fayette,  was 
not  to  end  until  forty  years  after  1789 ;  but  this  was  the  only 
resemblance  between  the  two  roles.  The  high  morality  and  the 
firm  principles  of  La  Fayette  never  relaxed;  Talleyrand  was  en- 
tirely his  opposite. 

He  began  by  serving  well  the  Revolution.     He  presented  to  the 

Assembly  a  plan  through  which  the  nation  might  lay  its  hand  on 

the  whole  landed  property  of  the  clergy,  assuring  it  a  revenue  of 

one  hundred  millions.     These  estates  were  to  be  sold  to  defray  a 

6 


82  THE  FKENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

large  portion  of  the  incomes  and  offices  of  judicature,  and  to  cover 
the  deficit. 

Mirabeau  and  other  deputies,  in  accepting  the  principle,  modified 
the  proposition  of  Talleyrand.  Most  of  the  bishops  made  a  des- 
perate resistance.  An  abbe,  no  more  regular  in  his  morals  and 
no  better  priest  than  the  Bishop  of  Autun,  but  who  was  a  great 
orator,  the  Abbe  Mauri,  defended  with  an  impassioned  and  subtle 
eloquence  the  pretended  inviolability  of  the  estates  of  the  clergy. 
Mirabeau,  Thouret,  Le  Chapelier,  and  a  number  of  others  rivalled 
his  force  and  logic  on  the  opposite  side. 

"  The  law,"  said  Thouret,  "  can  decree  that  anybody  shall  or  shall 
not  be  proprietors.  It  can  decree  that  corporations,  the  clergy,  and 
all  mortmain  establishments  shall  no  more  be  possessors.  This 
decree  would  benefit  the  people.  The  great  possessions  of  collec- 
tive tenants  destroy  true  social  interests ;  that  which  the  corpora- 
tions have  in  their  hands  withdraws  from  circulation  no  more  to 
return.  Society  needs  real  and  not  fictitious  proprietors  who  can- 
not dispose  of  landed  property.  The  nation  should  appropriate  all 
estates  which  have  no  real  proprietors,  and  dispose  of  them." 

The  orators  of  the  Eevolutionary  party,  without  difficulty,  did 
away  with  the  distinction  their  opponents  sought  to  make  between 
real  property,  that  is  to  say,  individual  property,  and  the  possessions 
of  corporations;  but  the  defenders  of  the  estates  of  the  clergy 
brought  forward  another  argument,  the  right  of  donors,  persons 
who  had  bequeathed  their  estates  to  the  clergy  to  found  or  enrich 
ecclesiastical  establishments. 

Mirabeau  replied  that  ignorant  and  narrow  individuals  had  no 
right  to  bind  future  generations  to  their  will ;  that  foundations  of 
this  sort  would  in  time  end  by  absorbing  individual  property,  and 
that  it  was  very  necessary  they  should  now  at  last  be  destroyed. 

In  fact,  that  a  man  should  for  ages  dispose  of  the  tract  of  land 
he  occupies  during  his  short  passage  through  this  world  is  against 
all  reason. 

During  this  great  debate  an  affecting  incident  occurred.  October 
25,  an  old  man  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  was  led  before  the 


1789.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  83 

Assembly  by  his  children  and  grandchildren.  He  was  a  serf  of 
the  church,  a  mountaineer  of  the  Jura.  The  Assembly  rose  respect- 
fully before  this  elder  of  France,  who  came  to  thank  it  for  having 
delivered  all  Frenchmen  from  the  bonds  of  servitude. 

The  curates  feebly  sustained  the  bishops.  They  could  only  profit 
by  the  changes  which  were  in  preparation;  they  well  knew  that 
the  Assembly  would  ameliorate  the  condition  of  curates,  while 
taking  from  the  prelates  their  princely  opulence.  Some  members 
of  the  clergy  admitted  that  the  nation  had  a  right  to  employ  for 
public  needs  such  a  portion  of  the  property  of  the  church  as  was 
not  required  for  the  dignity  of  worship  and  the  relief  of  the  poor. 

This  was  also  the  opinion  of  the  Assembly,  which  still  considered 
worship  a  public  function,  and  consequently  admitted  that  the 
state  must  provide  for  it.  Societies  which  have  arrived  at  the 
separation  of  church  and  state  are  absolved  from  the  care  of 
worship,  which  is  with  them  an  affair  of  free  associations ;  bufc 
nothing  can  disfranchise  them  from  that  other  duty  mentioned  by 
the  clergy  cited  above,  the  duty  of  directing  public  institutions  for 
the  amelioration  of  the  lot  of  the  poorer  classes.  In  seizing  church 
property,  which  had  originally  been  destined  for  this  purpose, 
society  contracted  a  perpetual  debt,  not  to  the  clergy,  but  to  the 
classes  which  had  been  so  long  oppressed  and  which  still  endure 
so  many  sufferings. 

A  curate  named  Jallet  went  further  than  his  brethren.  Not 
only  did  he  admit  that  the  nation  should  dispose  of  ecclesiastical 
property,  charging  itself  with  the  maintenance  of  the  ministers  of 
worship,  but  he  proposed  that  no  more  benefices  be  named,  that 
the  nomination  to  bishoprics,  abbeys,  etc.,  be  suspended  until  the 
passage  of  a  new  law  of  election,  that  the  chapters  of  prebendaries 
be  suppressed,  and  the  Assembly  deliberate  as  to  whether  the 
monastic  orders  be  entirely  abolished,  or  a  few  of  their  fraternities 
be  preserved  for  purposes  of  public  utility. 

Upon  Mirabeau's  proposition,  the  Assembly,  on  the  2d  of  Novem- 
ber, declared,  by  a  majority  of  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight  to  three 
hundred  and  forty-six,  that  all  ecclesiastical  estates  were  at  the 


84  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

disposition  of  the  nation,  which  should  provide  for  the  cost  of 
worship,  the  maintenance  of  its  ministers,  and  the  relief  of  the 
poor.  The  curates  were  to  have  a  minimum  of  twelve  hundred 
livres  (about  three  thousand  francs  of  to-day),  besides  lodging. 

Thus  ended  the  order  of  the  clergy.  The  clergy  was  no  longer 
an  order  in  the  state ;  it  was  now  only  a  class  of  citizens  charged 
with  the  functions  of  worship. 

This  decision  was  rendered  in  a  hall  of  the  Archbishopric  of 
Paris,  where  the  Assembly  had  temporarily  established  itself  on 
the  19th  of  October.  It  removed  in  December  to  the  riding- 
school  of  the  Tuileries,  which  was  upon  the  site  of  the  present 
Rue  Rivoli. 

The  Assembly  had  ordered  a  search  of  the  monastic  prisons,  those 
bastilles  of  the  clergy,  where  so  many  secret  cruelties  had  been  com- 
mitted, and  where  so  many  victims  of  both  sexes,  monks  and  nuns, 
condemned  by  pitiless  superiors,  had  been  immured  in  frightful 
subterranean  dungeons.  They  called  these  dens  the  In  Pace,  as 
if  in  savage  derision  of  the  "  Go  in  peace "  ( Venite  in  pace). 

These  cruelties  had  become  more  rare;  there  was  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  in  the  convents  as  elsewhere,  a  laxity  rather  than 
a  harshness  of  manners.  But  what  had  not  ceased  was  the  tyranny 
of  those  parents  who  made  their  daughters  nuns  in  spite  of  their 
own  wishes. 

The  Assembly,  for  the  present,  forbade  the  taking  of  monastic 
vows;  some  time  after  it  discussed  the  question  of  the  existence  of 
religious  orders, —  a  question  necessarily  attached  to  that  of  the 
estates  of  the  clergy.  The  organization  of  monastic  orders  was 
attacked  as  incompatible  with  the  rights  of  man  and  with  all  the 
principles  the  Revolution  had  come  to  realize.  "  They  are,"  said 
Barnave,  "societies  antagonistic  to  society."  "In  a  moment  of 
transitory  fervor,"  said  the  deputy  Garat,  "  a  young  adolescent  pro- 
nounces the  oath  to  recognize  henceforth  neither  father  nor  family, 
to  be  never  a  husband,  never  a  citizen ;  he  submits  his  will  to  the 
will  of  another,  his  soul  to  the  soul  of  another ;  he  renounces  all  his 
liberty  at  an  age  when  he  could  not  part  with  the  most  moderate 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  85 

estate ;  his  oath  is  a  civil  suicide.  Man  has  no  more  right  to  make 
an  attack  upon  his  civil  life  than  upon  his  natural  life." 

There  have  always  existed  men  with  a  taste  for  living  like  her- 
mits, in  solitude,  or  for  uniting  in  little  groups,  like  monks,  beyond 
the  turmoil  of  the  great  world.  Provided  they  do  not  withdraw 
themselves  from  the  duties  they  owe  their  country,  it  would  not  be 
right  to  forbid  their  living  as  they  prefer ;  but  society  at  Jarge  must 
recognize  them  only  as  free  individuals,  and  not  as  corporations 
where  the  individual  is  absorbed  in  the  whole.  It  was  monstrous 
for  the  state  to  make  itself  surety  for  imprudent  vows  pronounced 
by  members  of  these  associations,  and  to  impose  upon  them  their 
observance  when  they  wished  to  be  released. 

The'Assembly  decided  that  the  religious  orders  which  had  hith- 
erto rendered  service  to  agriculture,  to  education,  and  to  letters  had 
become,  for  the  most  part,  useless  or  mischievous.  After  a  stormy 
discussion  of  two  days,  it  decreed,  February  13,  1790,  that  the  law 
would  no  longer  recognize  monastic  vows ;  that  orders  and  frater- 
nities of  both  sexes  should  be  suppressed  in  France.  Monks  and 
nuns  were  free  to  leave  their  monasteries.  The  monks  who  did  not 
wish  to  profit  by  this  liberty  could  be  reunited  in  a  small  number 
of  houses  destined  for  that  purpose. 

The  number  of  monks  had  greatly  diminished  during  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Many  convents  were  almost  empty.  As  for  the 
nuns,  they  could  remain,  if  they  desired,  in  their  cloisters. 

The  Assembly,  in  striking  at  institutions,  showed  much  regard  for 
persons,  and  manifested  neither  violence  nor  harshness. 

The  Assembly  admitted  one  considerable  exception  to  its  decree. 
It  did  not  interfere  with  orders  or  fraternities  devoted  to  public 
education  and  to  the  relief  of  the  sick. 

The  powerful  monastic  institutions  which  had  played  so  consider- 
able a  role  in  France  and  in  Europe  since  the  Middle  Ages  were 
not  about  to  disappear  to  return  no  more.  Uprooted  by  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  they  were  to  take  root  again  in  the  nineteenth.  The 
conflict  between  the  modern  spirit  and  the  spirit  of  the  past  was  not 
ended  by  a  first  victory. 


86  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

Another  order  of  the  great  establishments  of  the  Ancient  Regime 
•was  struck  at  the  same  time  as  the  clergy ;  it  was  the  high  courts 
of  justice.  November  3,  the  very  day  when  the  estates  of  the  clergy 
were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  nation,  the  Assembly,  upon  mo- 
tion of  Alexandre  de  Lameth,  decreed  that  the  parliaments,  which 
were  then  in  their  annual  vacation,  should  remain  in  vacation  until 
a  new  order. 

The  parliaments,  during  vacation,  left  in  session  a  temporary 
chamber,  called  the  Chamber  of  Vacations.  The  Paris  Chamber  of 
Vacations  contented  itself  with  secretly  protesting,  —  a  protest 
which,  discovered  later,  condemned  to  death  its  fourteen  signers 
during  the  Reign  of  Terror. 

The  Rouen  Chamber  of  Vacations,  more  bold,  sent  a  violent 
protest  to  the  king.  The  ministers,  affrighted,  urged  Louis  XVI. 
to  himself  denounce  the  Normandy  protest  to  the  Assembly.  The 
Assembly  threatened.  The  chamber  of  Rouen  drew  back,  and  the 
Assembly,  out  of  regard  to  the  king's  intercession,  renounced  its 
idea  of  prosecuting  the  Rouen  chamber  for  the  crime  of  treason 
against  the  nation. 

The  parliament  of  Metz  went  further  than  the  chamber  of  Rouen ; 
it  braved  the  decree  of  the  Assembly,  and  unanimously  protested 
against  the  Revolution.  It  sustained  its  revolt  no  better  than  the 
Rouen  magistrates.  It  retracted,  and  obtained  pardon  at  the  inter- 
cession of  the  Metz  Commune. 

The  Rennes  Chamber  of  Vacations  had  no  better  success.  It  re- 
fused, despite  the  king's  orders,  to  enroll  the  decree  of  the  Assem- 
bly. The  Assembly  summoned  the  recreant  chamber  to  its  bar. 
The  national  guard  of  the  Breton  towns  took  up  arms,  not  to  sus- 
tain its  parliament,  but  to  force  it  to  obey  the  Assembly. 

This  took  place  in  November  and  December.  During  the  month 
of  October  the  counter-revolutionary  party  had  attempted  a  move- 
ment in  Lower  Brittany.  The  Bishop  of  Tre'guier  had  provoked 
civil  war  by  an  incendiary  mandate,  and  had  begun  enrolments  in 
concert  with  a  few  gentlemen.  But  the  municipality  of  Treguier 
had  summarily  stopped  this  conspiracy  by  rigorous  measures.  The 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  87 

Rennes  chamber  was  forced  to  submit,  as  the  Bishop  of  Treguier 
had  submitted.  The  Breton  magistrates  appeared  before  the  As- 
sembly, which  declared  them  deprived  of  the  rights  of  citizens  until 
they  had  sworn  fidelity  to  the  Constitution  (January  11,  1790). 

A  final  attempt  of  the  Bordeaux  parliament  ended  this  series 
of  impotent  resistances  (February  and  March).  This  was  the  end 
of  the  parliaments.  They  had  formerly  served  France  in  combat- 
ing feudality  and  the  pretensions  of  the  popes,  and  in  sustaining 
the  national  independence  against  foreign  powers ;  but  they  had 
made  the  nation  pay  dear  for  these  services,  by  favoring  the  estab- 
lishment of  absolute  power.  Later,  they  had  sought  to  impose  limits 
to  this  power,  and  to  become  a  sort  of  aristocracy ;  but  they  had  not 
succeeded,  and  had  no  role  to  play  from  the  day  when  the  nation 
recovered  possession  of  itself,  and  when  the  democracy  arose. 

The  Assembly's  first  concern  was  to  reorganize  justice,  and  replace 
the  privileged  magistracy  by  a  magistracy  of  the  people.  It  ha.d 
designed  on  the  17th  of  August,  1789,  to  have  a  full  report  on  this 
subject  drawn  up  in  the  name  of  the  Committee  on  the  Constitution. 
The  principles  of  this  report  were  to  be  those  adopted  by  England 
and  the  United  States  of  America.  Bergasse,  the  Lyonnais  deputy, 
who  was  to  draw  up  the  report,  held  advanced  opinions  upon  judi- 
cial qiiestions,  but  was  very  conservative  upon  other  points,  and, 
like  Mounier,  abandoned  the  Revolution.  Thouret  succeeded  him 
as  reporter,  and,  March  29,  1790,  presented  his  modified  plan  to  the 
Assembly.  The  administration  of  justice  he  conceived  to  be  a 
hierarchy  ascending  from  district  justices  of  the  peace  to  a  supreme 
court,  one  only  for  all  France. 

Lowest  stood  the  justices  of  the  peace,  elected  by  the  primary 
assemblies,  one  for  a  canton.  They  were  to  judge,  without  appeal, 
cases  to  the  amount  of  fifty  livres,  unimportant  disputes,  and  all  the 
petty  quarrels  between  country  people.  The  very  title,  justice  of 
the  peace,  told  the  object  of  this  excellent  institution  ;  to  wrest  the 
rural  population  from  expensive  lawsuits  by  the  establishment  of 
arbitrating  and  pacific  magistrates. 

Next  higher  stood  the  district   tribunals,  composed   of  several 


88  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

judges  chosen  by  the  people  for  an  equal  time,  and  eligible  to  re- 
election. Appeal  could  be  made  to  them  from  the  justices  of  the 
peace  in  cases  involving  more  than  fifty  livres,  and  they  decided 
without  appeal  cases  amounting  to  one  thousand  livres.  In  certain 
cases  these  tribunals  were  to  act  as  umpires  one  toward  another. 

"  The  Right,"  as  they  named  that  portion  of  the  Assembly  hostile 
to  the  Revolution,  because  it  was  grouped  on  the  right  side  of  the 
hall,  insisted  upon  the  king's  being  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  nom- 
ination of  the  judges,  but  the  Left  opposed  to  this  body  the  prin- 
ciple of  Montesquieu  upon  the  separation  of  the  executive  from  the 
judiciary  power,  and  left  to  the  king  only  a  simple  formality,  the 
installation  of  the  judges  in  his  name. 

The  subject  of  the  removal  of  the  judges  was  very  thoroughly  and 
broadly  discussed,  at  the  instigation  of  Duport  and  other  members 
who  had  abandoned  the  Revolutionary  side.  Non-removal  is  a 
guaranty  more  or  less  efficacious  when  the  judges  are  named  by 
the  executive  power.  It  appears  a  privilege  injurious  to  the  good 
administration  of  justice  when  the  judges  are  elected  by  the  people. 
It  was  for  experience  to  demonstrate  whether  or  not  it  was  proper 
to  apply  to  the  choice  of  judges  the  same  principle  as  to  the  choice 
of  representatives  of  the  people ;  that  is  to  say,  to  their  election  by 
the  mass  of  the  citizens. 

Above  all  other  tribunals  was  created  a  tribunal  of  cassation, 
charged  with  repealing  judgments  which  had  not  been  rendered  in 
the  legal  forms.  The  members  of  this  supreme  court  were  to  be 
elected  for  four  years  by  the  assemblies  of  the  departments,  the  new 
territorial  division,  of  which  we  shall  speak  presently. 

The  Court  of  Cassation  had  within  its  jurisdiction  criminal  jus- 
tice as  well  as  civil  justice.  The  district  tribunals  had  only  civil 
justice.  Criminal  justice  was  to  be  confided  to  the  jury ;  citizens 
were  to  be  tried,  not  by  magistrates,  but  by  citizens  taken  from  a 
list  drawn  up  every  three  months  by  the  elective  director  of  each 
department.  There  was  established  not  only  a  jury  for  trial  com- 
posed of  twelve  jurors,  but  a  jury  of  accusation  composed  of  eight 
jurors,  who  were  to  decide  if  it  was  necessary  to  give  suit  to  the 
proceeding  begun  by  the  plaintiff. 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  89 

The  principal  lawyers  of  the  Assembly  had  represented  that  in 
order  to  decide  in  civil  trials,  study  and  special  knowledge  were 
requisite,  and  had  opposed  extending  so  far  the  power  of  the  jury, 
a  tribunal  from  the  people.  But  many  eminent  members  of  the 
Assembly  were  of  a  contrary  opinion. 

By  the  side  of  civil  tribunals  and  the  jury,  they  allowed  the 
existence  of  commercial  tribunals,  knowing  that  commercial  affairs 
can  be  properly  judged  only  by  merchants. 

The  new  judiciary  organization  for  civil  justice  was  formed  from 
March  to  November,  1790;  for  criminal  justice,  in  September,  1791. 

The  new  administrative  and  political  organization  of  France  had 
been  much  more  rapidly  formed  than  the  judicial  organization. 
The  latter  was  fully  decided  in  the  last  two  months  of  1789.  Here 
was  recognized  the  vigorous  and  logical  mind  of  Sieyes.  It  was  he 
who  conceived  the  plan  promulgated  and  developed  by  Thouret  in 
the  name  of  the  Committee  on  the  Constitution.  The  Assembly 
modified  certain  ideas  which  would  have  given  to  the  new  divisions 
of  the  kingdom  a  too  mathematical  regularity. 

The  plan  consisted  in  replacing  the  thirty-two  provinces  by  about 
twenty-four  departments  nearly  equal  in  extent.  Each  department 
was  to  be  divided  into  districts,  each  district  into  cantons. 

The  number  of  deputies  each  department  should  send  to  the 
Assembly  was  to  be  calculated  in  proportion  to  territory  and  popu- 
lation, and  by  the  amount  of  its  direct  contributions. 

Mirabeau  opposed  this  plan,  thinking  they  should  be  content 
to  subdivide  the  provinces,  without  mingling  and  effacing  them  en- 
tirely. He  wished  the  old  traditions  and  customs  to  be  observed. 

It  was  precisely  these  traditions  the  Assembly  wished  to  destroy, 
so  as  to  assure  French  unity,  and  efface  all  that  recalled  inequalities 
and  privileges.  The  people  from  all  sides  were  alike  enthusiastic 
for  unity.  Thouret  triumphed  over  Mirabeau.  The  division  into 
departments  was  agreed  upon  without  taking  into  account  the  limits 
of  the  ancient  provinces,  but  not  without  taking  into  account  the 
natural  divisions  of  the  soil  and  the  natural  relations  of  the  people. 
In  breaking  with  the  traditions  of  the  Middle  Ages  the  Assembly 


90  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

went  back  in  some  manner  to  primitive  traditions,  by  the  adoption 
of  the  names  imprinted  upon  rivers,  mountains,  and  sea-coasts.  It 
was  thus  the  ancient  Gauls  distinguished  different  portions  of 
their  territory,  while  the  Germans  preferred  divisions  after  points 
of  the  compass,  north,  south,  east,  and  west. 

It  was  decided  that  each  canton  should  have  one  or  two  primary 
assemblies,  which  were  to  choose  the  electors  composing  the  depart- 
mental assembly.  These  electors  were  to  be  named  deputies  to  the 
National  Assembly,  members  of  the  departmental  administration, 
and  members  of  the  district  administrations. 

The  members  for  the  departments  and  the  districts  were  to  be 
chosen  for  four  years ;  but  these  administrations  would  renew  half 
their  members  every  two  years.  Both  administrations  were  to  be 
divided  into  councils,  holding  a  session  each  year,  and  into  perma- 
nent directories,  rendering  an  account  of  their  proceedings  to  the 
councils.  The  council  for  each  department  was  to  consist  of  thirty- 
six  members  ;  that  of  the  directory,  of  eight. 

The  primary  assemblies  were  to  name  an  elector  for  every  one 
hundred  "active  citizens."  The  active  citizen  was  he  who  was 
twenty-five  years  old,  had  lived  one  year  in  the  country,  paid  a 
direct  tax  amounting  to  three  days'  labor,  and  was  not  a  hired 
servant.  The  tax  was  estimated  at  three  livres,  representing  seven 
or  eight  francs  of  our  day. 

There  were  grave  debates  upon  this  restriction  of  the  suffrage. 
It  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  Declaration  of  Eights,  which 
asserted  that  all  citizens  have  the  right  to  assist  personally,  or 
through  their  representatives,  in  the  formation  of  the  laws.  And 
yet  many  deputies  sworn  to  the  Eevolution  approved  this  restric- 
tion, judging  it  necessary  for  a  time.  It  was  impossible,  in  their 
opinion,  to  admit  immediately  to  political  rights  that  mass  of  men 
who  had  been  habituated  to  living  in  dependence  upon  the  clergy, 
upon  nobles  and  rich  men,  —  servants,  paupers,  day-laborers  in  the 
service  of  lords  and  beneficiaries.  These  being  excluded,  there 
remained  four  million  two  hundred  thousand  voters  in  a  population 
of  from  twenty-five  to  twenty-six  millions.  This,  reckoning  the 


1790.]  THE   CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  91 

increase  of  population,  would  give  about  six  millions  to-day.  There 
was  here  no  aristocracy. 

Unhappily,  the  Assembly  went  further.  It  decreed  that  to  be  an 
elector  of  the  second  degree,  a  man  must  pay  the  value  of  ten  days' 
labor;  and  that,  to  be  a  deputy,  he  must  pay  a  silver  mark,  that  is  to 
say  fifty-four  livres,  equal  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  or  one  hundred 
and  forty  francs  to-day.  These  conditions  of  eligibility  detracted 
from  the  common  right,  and  restrained  liberty  of  choice,  without 
giving  the  anticipated  guaranties.  The  least  energetic  and  least 
logical  friends  of  the  Revolution  were  wrong  here  in  voting  with 
the  Right 

The  Assembly  committed  a  yet  greater  error.  In  spite  of  Mira- 
beau,  in  spite  of  Le  Chapelier  and  other  orators,  it  decreed  that 
each  department  should  elect  its  deputies  from  its  own  midst, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  declared  that  all  those  elected  by  the 
people,  even  to  district  administrators,  were  the  representatives  of 
all  France.  This  was  radically  to  detract  from  national  unity  while 
proclaiming  it,  to  forbid  a  department  seeking  in  another  part  of 
France  an  illustrious  man  to  confer  upon  him  the  office  of  its  rep- 
resentative. We  cannot  conceive  how  the  patriot  Barnave  could 
sustain  this  motion,  which  passed  by  a  majority  of  a  few  votes. 
The  journals  protested  both  against  this  enactment  and  against  the 
mark  of  silver,  with  a  vehemence  only  too  just. 

It  was  decided  that  the  future  Assembly  be  composed  of  seven 
hundred  and  forty-five  members. 

The  Assembly  had  done  away  with  the  political  hierarchy  of  the 
canton,  and  not  of  the  commune ;  it  had  rightfully  distinguished  the 
departments,  districts,  and  cantons  —  new  territorial  divisions  which 
it  had  just  created,  and  which  are  only  the  work,  always  modifiable, 
of  the  national  will  —  from  the  communes,  which  are  little  natural 
societies,  inherited  from  the  primitive  tribes.  The  law  can  and 
must  regulate  the  communes,  but  not  suppress  them,  for  it  has  not 
created  them. 

The  Assembly  decreed  that  the  communes  should  be  adminis- 
tered by  the  municipalities  chosen  by  the  legal  voters,  which  were 


92  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

also  to  decide  local  affairs,  such  as  the  administration  of  estates 
and  common  establishments,  local  expenses  and  works.  The  na- 
tional authority  was  here  to  retain  only  a  sort  of  surveillance  in  the 
interest  of  the  communes  themselves. 

The  municipalities,  independent,  save  this  reservation,  in  their 
local  affairs,  were  subject  to  elective  department  and  district  au- 
thorities in  matters  concerning  the  state  or  the  department,  such 
as  the  assessment  and  collection  of  the  taxes,  the  administration 
of  national  or  district  property  or  establishments.  The  council  of 
the  department  would  assess  the  direct  tax  between  the  districts; 
the  districts,  between  the  communes.  The  department  and  district 
councils  and  directories  were  to  watch  over  public  education,  moral 
and  political  instruction,  the  police  of  waters  and  forests,  the 
means  of  subsistence,  the  public  works,  houses  of  charity,  and 
prisons ;  all  that  concerned  the  public  health  and  tranquillity  and 
the  relief  of  the  poor  was  within  their  jurisdiction.  The  king,  as 
the  executive  power,  received  the  right  to  suspend  all  local  admin- 
istration not  in  accordance  with  his  orders  given  for  the  execution 
of  the  laws.  This  suspension  was  to  be  confirmed  or  abrogated  by 
the  National  Assembly. 

December  16,  1789,  the  Assembly  decreed  that  the  active  army 
should  be  recruited  by  voluntary  enlistments ;  it  was  supposed  to 
be  so  recruited  under  the  Ancient  Regime ;  but  in  reality  every 
sort  of  violence  and  fraud  was  tolerated  on  the  part  of  recruiting 
officers,  and  it  held  the  militia  as  a  reserve. 

Behind  this  active  army,  the  Assembly  intended  that  the  whole 
nation  should  remain  armed,  and  form  an  immense  reserve.  The 
question  was  to  disengage  from  the  masses  and  organize  a  national 
body  capable  of  seriously  aiding  the  army  in  case  of  need.  None 
could  fail  to  recognize  the  inadequacy  of  voluntary  enlistments 
to  constitute  a  sufficient  active  army. 

December  24,  the  Assembly  declared  non-Catholics  eligible  to  all 
ranks  and  admissible  to  all  employments.  This  complete  equality 
between  Catholics  and  Protestants,  the  very  idea  of  which  had 
formerly  excited  so  much  wrath  among  the  clergy,  was  admitted 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  93 

almost  without  resistance,  so  irresistible  was  the  movement  of  opin- 
ion. The  clergy  obtained  an  adjournment  only  in  regard  to  the 
Jews,  in  consequence  of  the  hostility  against  that  sect  in  the  East 
of  France,  for  social  and  not  for  religious  reasons. 

The  king,  although  his  advisers  remained  hostile  to  the  Revolu- 
tion,  seemed,  at  least  in  his  public  acts,  resigned  to  the  new  order 
of  things ;  he  did  not  oppose  the  publication  of  its  several  decrees 
by  the  Assembly. 

February  4,  1790,  he  went,  without  ceremony  and  without  escort, 
to  pronounce  before  the  Assembly  a  discourse  composed  by  Necker. 
He  there  promised  to  maintain  constitutional  liberty,  and  in  concert 
with  the  queen,  to  educate  his  son  for  the  New  Regime. 

He  expressed  himself  with  such  an  accent  of  sincerity  as  to 
excite  the  enthusiasm  of  the  majority  and  the  consternation  of  the 
Eight.  All  the  members  of  the  Assembly,  save  five  or  six  of  the 
most  obstinate  aristocrats,  swore  to  be  faithful  to  the  nation,  to 
the  king,  and  the  law,  and  to  maintain  the  Constitution  which  the 
Assembly  should  decree  and  the  king  accept.  The  public  of  the 
tribunes  swore  with  the  Assembly. 

The  queen  herself,  who  since  her  installation  in  Paris  had  been 
habitually  sad  and  angry,  that  day  addressed  a  deputation  from  the 
Assembly,  in  terms  not  differing  from  those  of  the  king. 

In  the  evening  the  representatives  of  the  Commune  and  the  peo- 
ple who  thronged  to  the  Place  de  Greve,  in  their  turn,  gave  their 
oath  to  the  Constitution.  There  was  great  rejoicing  in  Paris,  and 
the  next  day  there  was  a  grand  Te  Deum  at  Notre  Dame. 

These  oaths  and  these  rejoicings  were  repeated  throughout  France. 

The  Eight  tried  to  profit  by  the  good  inclinations  of  the  Assembly, 
and  reinforce  the  royal  power.  As  the  disturbances,  the  attacks 
against  the  chateaux,  the  conflicts  with  the  military  chiefs,  con- 
tinued in  the  provinces,  one  of  the  aristocratic  orators,  Cazales,  had 
the  boldness  to  demand  three  months  of  dictatorship  for  the  king. 
The  Assembly  answered  him  by  instructing  the  municipalities  to 
maintain  or  re-establish  order. 

While  the  Assembly  was  pursuing,  before  France  and  the  world, 


94  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

public  deliberation  upon  the  great  laws  through  which  it  should 
reorganize  French  society,  secret  intrigues  continued  among  the 
men  who  aspired  to  power.  After  the  days  of  the  5th  and  6th  of 
October,  La  Fayette,  who  attributed  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans  a  more 
important  role  than  he  had  really  played,  judged  it  best  for  the 
public  tranquillity  to  remove  that  prince  from  Paris.  He  almost 
forced  him  to  depart  for  London,  under  pretext  of  a  diplomatic 
mission. 

Mirabeau  urged  the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  resist.  The  Duke,  after 
having  said  yes  and  no,  departed,  and  Mirabeau  finally  abandoned 
his  cause.  Mirabeau  then  approached  Monsieur,  the  eldest  of  the 
king's  brothers,  and  tried  anew  to  make  terms  with  the  court.  He 
wished  to  become  minister,  to  control  and  end  the  Eevolution,  and, 
sad  to  say,  his  sore  need  of  money  contributed  in  driving  him  to 
the  court.  He  fluctuated  from  one  extreme  to  the  other.  He  who 
had  favored  the  Parisian  movement  of  October  5  upon  Versailles 
soon  after  adopted  the  plan  of  those  moderate  individuals  who 
sought  to  remove  the  king  from  Paris  without  committing  him  to 
the  counter-revolution.  He  even  prayed  Monsieur  to  deliver  a 
memorial  to  the  king,  urging  him  to  leave  Paris  for  Eouen.  This 
was  just  a  chimerical  mean  between  the  Revolutionists  and  the 
aristocrats. 

Monsieur  did  not  wish  to  take  the  responsibility  of  advocating 
this  course  to  the  king.  Mirabeau  then  approached  La  Fayette, 
hoping  to  unite  with  him  in  the  conduct  of  affairs  by  removing 
Necker,  whom  he  hated. 

Necker  and  the  other  ministers  thwarted  Mirabeau's  efforts 
toward  arriving  at  the  ministry.  They  indirectly  incited  the  As- 
sembly to  decree  that  deputies  could  not  be  ministers  (November 
7, 1789). 

This  interdiction  had  far  more  inconveniences  than  advantages 
for  the  constitutional  government  they  sought  to  establish. 

Mirabeau,  bitterly  disappointed,  wrongly  imputed  his  failure  to 
La  Fayette,  and  entered  upon  new  cabals  with  Monsieur.  The 
latter  accepted  the  advances  of  the  great  orator,  but  secretly  joined 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  95 

in  far  worse  intrigues.  A  restless  and  audacious  man,  the  Marquis 
de  Favras,  plotted  in  Monsieur's  interest  a  conspiracy,  whose  object 
was  nothing  less  than  to  carry  off  the  king,  and  attempt  the  lives 
of  La  Fayette  and  Bailie.  Monsieur  hoped,  by  the  aid  of  the  an- 
archy which  would  follow  this  attempt,  to  seize  the  reins  of  power. 

The  conspiracy  was  discovered,  and  Favras  was  arrested  on  the 
24th  of  December.  Mirabeau,  who  had  not  been  in  the  plot, 
advised  Monsieur  to  appear  before  the  representatives  of  the 
Commune  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  exculpate  himself.  Monsieur 
declared  before  this  body  that  he  had  no  knowledge  of  the  projects 
imputed  to  Favras,  and  protested  his  attachment  to  the  Eevolution. 

Favras  was  condemned  to  death,  and  hanged  on  the  19th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1790.  He  died  with  great  courage,  and  did  not  denounce 
Monsieur,  who  had  basely  abandoned  him.  His  papers,  which 
attested  the  complicity  of  Monsieur,  and  which  had  not  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  justice,  had  been  destroyed  when  Monsieur  became 
King  Louis  XVIII. ;  but  the  memoirs  of  La  Fayette  and  those  of 
the  royalist,  Augeard,  secretary  to  the  queen,  leave  no  doubt  of  his 
complicity  in  the  affair. 

The  king  had  been  an  entire 'stranger  to  the  plot  of  Favras.  The 
Assembly  and  the  public  remained  kindly  disposed  toward  him; 
but  public  opinion  was  no  more  indulgent  toward  the  Ancient 
Regime.  Necker  in  vain  tried  to  prevent  the  exposure  of  past 
scandals.  The  Assembly  ordered  the  publication  of  a  certain  Livre 
Rouge  (Red  Book)  in  which  were  inscribed  the  pensions  and  gifts 
made  to  princes,  to  courtiers,  and  to  all  people  in  favor. 

This  Red  Book  surpassed  all  that  could  have  been  imagined,  not 
in  regard  to  the  expenses  of  the  king  and  queen,  which  were  mod- 
erate, but  to  those  of  the  king's  brothers,  the  friends  of  the  queen, 
and  a  certain  number  of  great  families.  Here  were  recorded  the 
frightful  robberies  of  the  minister  Calonne,  of  which  we  have  before 
spoken.  This  redoubled  the  evil  reports  against  the  queen,  because 
two  personages  who  had  been  suspected  of  criminal  liaisons  with 
her  had  been  placed  on  the  list  for  pensions  and  enormous  gifts. 
The  pretensions  of  Monsieur  to  popularity  sustained  a  rude  shock 


96  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

when  it  was  known  that  he  had  received  fourteen  millions  through 
Calonne  (March,  April,  1790). 

In  this  Eed  Book  had  also  been  inscribed  the  pensions  of  the 
flatterers  and  the  mistresses  of  Louis  XV.  The  cash  orders,  com- 
prehending all  sorts  of  expenses,  which  absolute  power  had  known 
how  to  withdraw  from  the  control  of  the  chamber  of  accounts,  had 
in  eight  years  of  Calonne's  administration  amounted  to  eight  hun- 
dred and  sixty  million  francs. 

Loustalot,  editor  of  the  most  popular  of  the  journals,  Les  Revolu- 
tions de  Paris,  declared,  with  reason,  that  since  the  publication  of 
the  Eed  Book  the  counter-revolution  had  become  impossible. 

The  Assembly  had  been  inflexible  toward  the  past.  It  showed 
itself  no  less  concerned  in  making  safeguards  for  the  future.  A 
very  grave  question  arose  as  to  the  limits  of  the  executive  power. 
May  14,  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs  made  known  to  the  Assem- 
bly, that  in  consequence  of  a  dispute  between  England  and  Spain 
in  regard  to  the  commerce  of  South  America,  England  threatened 
to  make  war  upon  Spain.  The  king,  in  virtue  of  the  friendly  treaty 
which  united  France  and  Spain,  had  ordered  the  arming  of  a 
squadron. 

Here  arose  the  question  as  to  whom  belonged  the  right  of  making 
peace  and  declaring  war.  This  question  was  very  excitedly  dis- 
cussed one  evening  at  the  ancient  Breton  Club,  which  had  been 
transferred  from  Versailles  to  Paris,  to  the  old  convent  of  the  Jaco- 
bins, in  the  Eue  St.  Honore",  where  the  Market-Place  now  is. 
Hence  it  took  the  name  of  Jacobin  Club,  afterward  so  famous. 
Advocates  of  the  most  advanced  opinions  here  gathered  with  their 
friends. 

The  next  day  the  discussion  opened  in  the  National  Assembly 
under  this  form :  "  Is  the  nation  to  delegate  to  the  king  the  exercise 
of  the  right  of  making  peace  and  declaring  war  ? "  The  discussion 
occupied  ten  sittings.  Public  opinion  comprehended  the  full  im- 
portance of  this  subject,  and  became  as  passionately  interested  in  it 
as  it  had  the  preceding  year  been  in  the  veto. 

Now,  as  at  the  time  of  the  veto,  Mirabeau  was  on  the  side  of  the 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  97 

royal  prerogative,  and  this  was  not  solely  through  conviction,  it  was 
also  through  interest.  He  had  very  recently  concluded  a  secret 
treaty  with  the  court.  He  had  been  promised  the  payment  of  his 
debts,  a  large  monthly  pension,  and  a  million  in  cash  down,  at  the 
adjournment  of  the  National  Assembly,  on  condition  of  faithful 
service  to  the  king." 

To  conceal  from  himself  the  shame  of  such  a  bargain,  he  said  to 
himself  that  he  would  accept  the  king's  money  only  to  be  assured 
of  the  means  of  realizing  his  own  ideas,  since  he  had  always  wished 
to  reconcile  royalty  with  the  Eevolution.  He  designed  to  lead  the 
court,  instead  of  being  led  by  it.  La  Fayette,  who  had  no  love  for 
him,  and  whose  high  morality  and  disinterestedness  offered  an  entire 
contrast  to  the  vices  of  Mirabeau,  admits  in  his  memoirs,  that  at 
no  price  would  Mirabeau  have  sustained  an  opinion  subversive  of 
liberty.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a  very  lamentable  thing  to  see  this 
fine  genius  drawn  away  by  his  passions  into  secret  transactions 
which  degraded  him. 

Mirabeau,  with  all  his  eloquence  and  all  his  ability,  now  main- 
tained that  the  right  to  declare  war  should  be  granted  to  the  king, 
but  it  was  for  the  Assembly  to  sanction  or  to  arrest  the  conflict  when 
begun.  Barnave,  an  orator  less  powerful  and  a  little  cold,  but  clear, 
precise,  and  logical,  refuted  with  great  success  this  formidable  ad- 
versary. He  maintained  that  it  was  for  the  Assembly  to  manifest 
the  will  of  the  nation,  and  for  the  king  alone  to  execute  it.  He 
showed  that  to  invest  the  king  with  the  right  of  beginning  war 
was,  in  fact,  to  render  it  impossible  to  the  Assembly  to  arrest  hos- 
tilities. He  denied  the  pretended  necessity  of  secrecy  in  such  a 
matter,  and  quoted  the  maxim  of  the  philosopher  Mabli,  "The 
policy  of  the  French  nation  should  be,  not  secrecy,  but  justice." 

Upon  leaving  the  Assembly,  Mirabeau  was  received  by  the  male- 
dictions of  an  immense  crowd,  and  Barnave  was  borne  in  triumph 
into  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries.  A  pamphlet  entitled  "  The  Great 
Treason  of  Count  Mirabeau  "  was  cried  in  the  streets.  Insurrection 
threatened  on  all  sides,  if  the  right  of  declaring  war  and  making 
peace  remained  with  the  king,  or  rather  with  his  ministers. 
7 


98  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IT. 

Mirabeau  breasted  the  storm  like  a  lion  beset  by  hunters;  he 
showed  an  intrepidity  which  would  have  been  more  admired  had 
the  world  not  known  its  deplorable  secret.  However,  at  the  end 
of  the  debates,  feeling  himself  vanquished,  he  went  over  to  the 
majority,  which  declared  that  war  could  be  decided  upon  only  by 
a  decree  of  the  National  Assembly,  issued  upon  the  proposition  of 
the  king  (May  22). 

To  the  king  was  left  the  care  of  watching  over  the  external 
security  of  the  kingdom,  of  conducting  negotiations,  of  making  in 
case  of  need  military  preparations ;  and  the  Assembly  approved  of 
what  he  had  done  in  the  present  circumstances. 

A  proof  of  how  much  Paris  was  then  possessed  by  the  political 
spirit  is  the  fact  that  the  people  on  this  occasion  were  excited  only 
upon  a  question  of  principle,  and  not  at  all  upon  the  particular 
instance  which  had  been  the  occasion  of  the  debate. 

So  far  as  military  preparations  were  concerned,  the  Assembly 
went  even  further  than  the  king.  In  the  month  of  August  it 
requested  the  king  to  increase  the  naval  armament  to  forty  vessels 
of  the  line.  The  English  government,  seeing  that  France  was  not, 
as  it  had  hoped,  reduced  to  impotence  by  its  discords,  made  terms 
with  Spain,  and  the  war  did  not  take  place. 

The  Assembly,  so  vigilant  in  all  concerning  the  national  sover- 
eignty, continued  to  testify  to  the  king  personally  deference  and 
sympathy.  It  remitted  to  him  the  amount  named  in  the  "civil 
list,"  the  sum  the  head  of  the  state  annually  receives  for  his  own 
expenses.  Louis  XVI.  demanded  twenty-five  millions,  which  would 
represent  more  than  sixty  millions  in  our  day,  and  a  dower  of  four 
millions  a  year  for  the  queen,  if  she  should  survive  him.  The  As- 
sembly granted  these  enormous  sums  without  discussion  (June  11). 

This  was  to  give  the  court  means  of  acting  against  the  Bevo- 
lution.  The  king  continued  to  pay  the  salaries  of  courtiers  and 
officers  who  had  emigrated  into  the  Ehine  provinces  and  into  Pied- 
mont, and  who  from  there  conspired  against  the  New  Regime. 

Meanwhile,  Mirabeau  sought  to  redeem  himself  by  a  motion 
which  the  Assembly  adopted  with  acclamation.  It  was  to  go  into 


'/  '  -  -^= 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  99 

mourning  for  the  death  of  the  illustrious  Franklin,  one  of  the  two 
principal  founders  of  the  American  Republic  (June  11). 

June  19,  the  Assembly  carried  through  an  important  measure, 
the  completion  of  the  decrees  of  the  night  of  August  4.  The  nobil- 
ity had  no  longer  pecuniary  or  political  privileges;  this  was  no 
longer  an  order  in  the  state,  but  an  honorary  and  hereditary  dis- 
tinction. A  member  of  the  Assembly  proposed  to  abolish  this 
distinction,  and  to  prohibit  titles  of  nobility  which  recalled  feu- 
dality. La  Fayette  and  many  other  nobles  energetically  supported 
the  proposition,  in  the  name  of  the  equality  which  was  the  base  of 
the  new  Constitution.  The  Abbe*  Mauri  cried  out  in  vain  that  since 
there  was  no  longer  a  nobility,  there  was  no  longer  a  monarchy ! 
The  Assembly  had  passed  a  decree  drawn  up  by  Le  Chapelier,  which 
forever  abolished  the  hereditary  nobility,  interdicted  all  persona 
henceforth  from  assuming  the  titles  of  duke,  marquis,  count,  etc., 
directed  all  persons  henceforth  to  bear  only  their  tfue  family  name, 
forbade  coats  of  arms,  and  liveries  for  domestics,  and  prohibited  the 
giving  to  any  person  the  title  of  monseigneur.  The  Assembly,  be- 
fore abolishing  hereditary  honors,  had  also  abolished  the  hereditary 
disgrace  which  marked  the  families  of  the  condemned. 

Distinctions,  such  as  hereditary  branding  or  disgrace,  are  equally 
opposed  to  the  principle  which  requires  each  to  answer  for  himself, 
and  claim  merit  through  himself  alone.  The  titles  of  duke,  mar- 
quis, count,  etc.,  have  no  meaning,  when  there  are  no  longer  duch- 
ies, marquisates,  or  earldoms ;  but  it  was  pushing  this  principle  too 
far,  when  the  Assembly  interdicted  the  names  of  estates,  as  not 
being  real  family  names,  and  decided  that  M.  de  La  Fayette  should 
henceforth  be  called  M.  Mottier,  and  M.  de  Mirabeau,  M.  Riquetti. 
Through  this  enactment  they  wounded  not  only  the  prejudice  and 
vanity,  but  also  the  finer  feeling  of  respectable  families.  This 
decree  was  not  rigorously  enforced. 

The  nobility  had  been  several  times  abolished  and  re-established, 
but  a  nobility  without  privileges  had  no  reason  for  existence,  and 
was  no  longer  a  social  institution. 

The  decree  of  June  19,  1790,  excited  a  profound  irritation  in 


100  THE  FKENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

most  of  these  noble  families,  "who  had  been  despoiled  of  their 
history"  to  use  the  words  of  a  celebrated  writer,  " in  taking  from 
them  their  very  name ;  they  espoused  more  and  more  warmly  the 
side  of  the  counter-revolutionists." 

Necker,  who  felt  himself  outstripped  by  the  course  of  events, 
advised  the  king  to  refuse  his  sanction  to  the  abolition  of  the 
nobility.  The  king  took  no  action  in  the  matter,  and  promulgated 
the  decree  without  protest. 

If,  at  moments,  as  in  his  discourse  of  February  4  before  the 
Assembly,  the  king  seemed  actually  to  resign  himself  to  the  Eevo- 
lution,  his  habitual  disposition,  in  which  he  was  confirmed  by  the 
queen's  influence,  was  to  consider  himself  as  not  free,  and  being 
constrained  to  subscribe  to  acts  which  he  would  recall  whenever 
it  should  be  in  his  power.  He  dreamed  of  making  a  secret  protest 
against  all  the  acts  of  the  Assembly. 

Through  the  great  measures  we  have  recapitulated  in  regard  to 
the  judicial  and  political  organization  of  the  kingdom,  the  National 
Assembly  transformed  France,  and  made  way  for  the  future.  The 
question  of  finance,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  decree  concerning 
the  estates  of  the  clergy,  became  involved  with  the  ecclesiastical 
question,  was  above  all  others  the  urgent  and  terrible  consideration. 
Bankruptcy,  which  the  Assembly  had  sworn  to  avert  at  any  price, 
was  still  hanging  over  France.  The  sum  total  of  the  annual  public 
expenses  was  four  hundred  and  twelve  millions,  representing  almost 
a  thousand  millions  of  to-day.  These  expenses  could  be  met, 
provided  the  citizens  would  recommence  regular  payment  of  the 
imposts,  which  had  gone  to  increase  the  quota  of  ancient  privi- 
leges ;  the  direct  imposts  were  collected  without  difficulty,  and 
there  was  ground  to  hope  that  the  people,  who  no  longer  paid 
either  the  old  aides  or  gabelles,  would  discharge  the  new  subsidy 
which  replaced  these  vexatious  imposts.* 

But  beside  the  annual  expenses  of  the  state,  there  was  an  enor- 
mous debt  of  eight  hundred  and  seventy-eight  millions,  composed 

*  The  gabelle  was  a  tax  upon  salt ;  the  aides  was  an  impost  upon  the  sales  of 
merchandise. 


:;.. 


1790.]  THE   CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  101 

of  forestalments  of  the  revenue,  of  six  months'  arrears  in  the  income 
of  the  state,  of  the  securities  of  farmers-general  and  stewards,  of 
advances  from  receivers  general  and  individual,  of  extraordinary- 
expenses  from  the  years  1789  to  1790,  etc:  This  debt,  which  could 
be  demanded  immediately,  crushed  all.  Necker,  since  his  return 
to  the  ministry  of  finance,  had  done  nothing  but  borrow  money  at 
the  Caisse  d'Escompte  (Discount  Bank)  founded  under  Turgot,  and 
which  then  played  in  commercial  affairs  a  role  approaching  that  to- 
day filled  by  the  Bank  of  France.  The  Caisse  d'Escompte  departed 
from  its  statutes  in  thus  lending  to  the  government,  and  this  had 
brought  it  into  a  false  and  dangerous  position.  Before  the  return 
of  Necker  to  the  helm  of  financial  affairs,  tjjp  government,  which 
already  owed  seventy  millions  to  the  Caisse,  had  authorized  him  to 
pay  its  notes  in  bills  of  exchange  instead  of  money,  and  had  given 
a  forced  currency  to  these  bills.  The  bankers  grouped  around 
Necker,  nevertheless,  for  some  time  sustained  the  credit  of  the 
Caisse ;  but  when  Necker  had  drawn  from  the  Caisse  ninety  new 
millions,  this  credit  declined ;  merchants  began  to  refuse  the  bills ; 
bankers  and  capitalists,  in  their  turn,  ceased  to  sustain  Necker. 
The  two  loans  he  attempted  in  the  autumn  of  1789  failed,  perhaps 
through  the  fault  of  the  Assembly  more  than  through  his  own. 
The  Assembly  had  too  much  reduced  the  advantages  offered  by 
Necker  to  lenders. 

It  was  necessary  again  to  have  recourse  to  the  Caisse,  already 
shaken,  and  to  ask  of  it  a  new  advance  of  eighty  millions,  which 
made  in  all  two  hundred  and  forty  millions  to  add  to  the  floating 
debt  of  eight  hundred  and  seventy-eight  millions. 

To  what  resource  should  government  turn  to  save  itself  from 
bankruptcy  and  pay  this  immense  debt  ? 

It  had  only  one,  THE  NATIONAL  ESTATES,  that  is  to  say,  the 
domains  of  the  crown  and  the  property  of  the  clergy.  The  Assem- 
bly decided  to  sell  first  the  lands  and  buildings  belonging  to  the 
crown,  which,  leaving  to  the  king  the  royal  palaces  and  the  forests, 
were  not  very  considerable;  second,  a  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
property,  amounting  in  all  to  four  hundred  millions. 


102  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

As  this  sale  could  not  be  immediately  realized,  the  Assembly 
decided  upon  the  creation  of  negotiable  bonds  to  the  value  of  four 
hundred  millions,  issued  upon  the  property  which  was  to  be  put  into 
the  market.  These  bonds  were  called  Assignats,  a  name  which  was 
to  become  deplorably  famous  (December  19,  1789). 

The  assignats,  being  issued,  did  not  give  satisfaction.  The  public 
did  not  yet  believe  the  sale  of  the  property  of  the  clergy  well 
assured.  Necker,  at  the  beginning  of  March,  1790,  confessed  that 
he  no  longer  knew  what  to  do. 

The  Commune  of  Paris  interposed  with  as  much  intelligence  as 
resolution.  The  representative  Assembly  of  the  Commune  proposed 
to  the  National  Assembly  to  have  the  municipalities  purchase  the 
property  that  was  for  sale.  The  municipalities  could  sell  again  to 
individuals.  Paris  alone  offered  to  purchase  one  half,  that  is  to  say, 
to  the  amount  of  two  hundred  millions,  payable  in  fifteen  years. 

March  17,  the  National  Assembly  adopted  the  project  through 
which  the  Commune  of  Paris  had  taken  the  initiative  for  the  public 
safety.  The  provincial  municipalities  followed  the  example  of  Paris. 

This  did  not  suffice.  The  assignats  had  henceforth  a  solid  pledge, 
since  the  sale  of  the  lands  was  assured;  but  the  creditors  of  the 
state  could  not  be  obliged  to  receive  these  papers  in  payment,  if, 
good  as  they  were,  they  could  not  in  their  turn  impose  their  accept- 
ance on  their  own  creditors. 

Here  the  Assembly  was  resolute.  Despite  the  furious,  exasper- 
ated opposition  of  the  Eight,  which  saw  that  the  alienation  of  the 
estates  of  the  clergy  was  being  rendered  irrevocable,  it  gave  a  forced 
currency  to  the  assignats,  making  of  them  a  paper-money  bearing 
interest.  It  decreed  that  the  four  hundred  millions  of  assignats 
should  be  employed  in  reimbursing  the  Caisse  d'Escompte,  the  bal- 
ance cancelled  by  forestalments  on  the  revenue,  and  that  the  back 
interest  should  be  paid. 

It  was  thus  that  the  Revolution  began  to  substitute,  as  George 
Law  had  before  done,  paper-money  for  specie.  The  quantity  of  paper 
issued  was  moderate,  the  risks  were  very  different  and  less  serious 
than  in  Law's  time;  but  the  route  on  which  the  Assembly  was 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  103 

entering  was  perilous.  It  did  not  act  thoughtlessly ;  it  obeyed  the 
necessity  which  commanded  it  at  any  price  to  avoid  immediate  ruin. 
For  the  present,  the  measure  was  successful. 

This  paper-money  vote  by  the  Assembly  had  been  preceded  by 
sittings  of  extreme  violence.  To  sell  the  estates  of  the  clergy,  they 
must  naturally  be  first  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 'lay  authorities. 
April  9,.  the  reporter  of  the  committee  charged  with  this  business 
proposed  that  the  management  of  all  the  property  of  the  clergy  be 
transferred  to  the  administration  of  departments  and  districts,  and 
that  ecclesiastics  be  henceforth  paid  from  the  budget.  Curates  were 
to  have  from  twelve  hundred  to  twro  thousand  livres.  The  most  of 
them  would  gain  by  the  New  Eegime.  Bishops  would  have  from 
ten  thousand  to  fifty  thousand  livres,  and  even  for  the  time  being 
the  Archbishop  of  Paris  would  have  one  hundred  thousand.  Ample 
provision  was  also  made  for  the  incomes  of  monks,  and  of  priests 
without  parishes.  The  total  of  the  annual  sum  set  apart  for  the 
clergy  was  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  millions, 
which  to-day  would  be  more  than  three  hundred  millions.  This 
immense  sum  was  to  be  reduced  one  half  by  extinctions  of  parishes. 

Materially,  the  clergy  had  nothing  to  complain  of;  but  the  idea 
of  no  longer  being  lords  and  great  proprietors  exasperated  the 
bishops.  They  cried  out  from  the  pulpits  that  religion  was  lost.  A 
deputy  of  the  clergy,  a  Carthusian  friar,  Dom  Gerle,  at  the  same 
time  patriotic  and  devout,  in  order  to  prove  that  religion  was  not  in 
danger,  proposed  a  decree  that  the  Catholic  religion  was  still,  and 
should  remain  forever,  the  religion  of  the  nation,  and  that  its  wor- 
ship should  be  alone  authorized.  The  Eight  passionately  supported 
the  motion  of  Dom  Gerle. 

There  was  at  first  some  embarrassment  among  the  majority  of 
the  Assembly.  They  wished  neither  to  deny  nor  to  declare  that 
Catholicism  was  the  national  religion.  They  felt  themselves  in  a 
false  position ;  the  men  of  the  Left  were,  in  general,  philosophers, 
and  no  longer  believed  in  the  dogmas  of  Catholicism,  and  yet,  as 
they  were  pretending  to  reform  the  church  and  not  to  separate  it 
from  the  state,  they  were  rented  to  be  still  Catholics. 


104  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

The  orators  of  the  Left  opposed  this  inopportune  motion  as  throw- 
ing doubt  upon  the  religious  sentiments  of  the  Assembly,  finally  as 
dangerous,  and  calculated  to  excite  the  citizens  one  against  the 
other.  They  resumed  the  offensive,  signalizing  the  efforts  made  by 
their  adversaries  as  designed  to  disturb  the  popular  imagination  by 
the  pretended  perils  of  religion  and  the  king,  and  a  summoning  of 
fanaticism  to  the  defence  of  abuses.  "  I  see  from  here,"  exclaimed 
Mirabeau,  "  that  fatal  window  whence  the  hand  of  a  king  of  France, 
armed  against  his  subjects  by  an  execrable  faction,  fired  the  shot 
which  was  the  signal  for  Saint  Bartholomew." 

This  speech  of  Mirabeau  had  a  terrible  effect.  The  remembrance 
of  Saint  Bartholomew  had  just  been  revived  in  Paris  by  Chenier's 
tragedy,  "Charles  IX.,"  played  in  November,  1789.  The  bell  of 
Saint-Germain  1'Auxerois,  which,  before  the  pistol-shot  of  Charles 
IX.,  had  given  the  signal  for  Saint  Bartholomew,  had  been  trans- 
ported to  the  Theatre  Franqais,  and  rang  there  every  evening.  It  is 
there  yet. 

The  National  Assembly,  "considering  that  it  neither  possessed 
nor  could  possess  any  power  to  exercise  over  consciences  or  religious 
opinions,  and  that  its  attachment  to  the  Catholic  worship  could  not 
be  doubted,"  decreed  that  it  could  not  and  ought  not  to  deliberate 
upon  the  proposed  motion.  It  thus  evaded  the  proclamation  of  an 
exclusive  state  religion  (April  13,  1790). 

Next  day,  the  Assembly  ordained  the  transfer  of  church  property 
to  the  departments  and  districts,  charging  them  to  provide  for  the 
salaries  of  the  clergy  and  the  expenses  of  worship. 

The  whole  Right,  two  hundred  and  ninety-seven  deputies,  signed 
a  violent  protest  against  these  decisions,  which  discarded  the  religion 
of  the  state.  They  were  intending  to  present  it  to  the  king ;  but 
he  let  them  know  that  it  would  not  be  received. 

The  Eight  and  its  protest  were  hooted  at  in  Paris  ;  they  excited 
grave  troubles  in  the  South.  The  accusations  of  the  orators  of  the 
Left  were  well  founded.  The  counter-revolutionary  party  was  work- 
ing to  organize  a  civil  war.  To  see  the  processions  of  Penitents, 
white,  gray,  blue,  which  with  lugubrious  chants  paraded  through  the 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  105 

streets  of  the  Languedoc  towns,  to  hear  the  words  spoken  from  the 
pulpits,  one  would  have  thought  the  time  of  the  League  had  come 
again.  But  these  proceedings  of  the  counter-revolutionists  met  a 
strong  opposition  even  among  the  Catholics.  A  very  large  portion 
of  the  Southern  Catholics  had  accepted  the  Eevolution  with  enthu- 
siasm, and  applauded  the  establishment  of  equality  between  them- 
selves and  the  Protestants. 

At  Nimes,  the  fanatical  party,  led  by  an  audacious  and  able  man 
named  Froment,  succeeded  in  controlling  the  municipal  elections. 
Its  fury  was  extreme  at  the  news  that  the  Protestant  deputy  of 
Nimes,  Eabout  St.  Etienne,  had  been  chosen  president  of  the  Na- 
tional Assembly.  Eabout's  father,  an  old  Protestant  clergyman, 
was  famous  for  having  fifty  years  preached  the  gospel  in  CeVennes.- 
Driven  like  a  stag  at  bay  from  rock  to  rock,  he  lived  long  enough  to 
see  the  day  of  reparation. 

The  fanatics  of  Nimes  signed  a  declaration  sustaining  the  protest 
of  the  Eight,  and  took  the  white  cockade.  There  were  bloody  quar- 
rels in  the  streets. 

Troubles  also  broke  out  at  Montauban,  where  the  municipality 
had  fallen,  as  at  Nimes,  into  the  hands  of  the  counter-revolutionists. 
An  insurrection  of  women,  with  the  connivance  of  the  municipal 
magistrates,  prevented  the  lay  authorities  taking  possession  of  the 
convents ;  but  the  Hotel  de  Ville  was  forced,  and  the  sentries  of  the 
national  guard  in  part  massacred  (May  10). 

At  these  tidings  the  national  guard  of  Bordeaux  marched  upon 
Montauban.  The  Montauban  fanatics  counted  upon  the  support  of 
Toulouse ;  Toulouse  did  not  come  to  their  assistance,  and  they  dared 
riot  await  the  attack  of  the  Bordelais,  whom  all  the  towns  of  the 
Garonne  sustained. 

The  municipality  of  Montauban,  nevertheless,  was  not  punished 
by  the  commissioner  sent  on  from  Paris.  The  fanatics  continued 
their  excesses  at  Nimes,  where  all  predicted  some  great  catastrophe. 

Civil  war  existed  in  the  army  as  among  the  people.  In  Langue- 
doc the  soldiers  were  for  the  Eevolution  and  for  the  Protestants ;  the 
officers  stood  out  for  the  counter-revolution.  In  other  portions  of 


106  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

France  the  soldiers  fought  against  each  other.  There  was  a  combat 
at  Lille  between  two  regiments  of  aristocratic  cavalry  and  two  regi- 
ments of  Kevolutionary  infantry. 

At  Marseilles,  at  Montpelier,  at  Valence,  the  national  guards  took 
possession  of  forts  commanded  by  aristocratic  officers  whom  their 
soldiers  would  not  sustain.  Two  of  these  commandants  were  killed. 

Most  of  the  great  towns  of  the  South  declared  for  the  Bevohition. 
The  movement  won  over  the  domain  of  the  Pope,  the  county  of 
Venaissin.  Avignon  gave  itself  a  democratic  municipality  and  a 
national  guard,  after  the  example  of  the  neighboring  French  towns. 
The  nobility,  the  functionaries  of  the  Pope,  the  fanatics,  attempted 
to  bring  about  a  reaction.  They  invaded  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  crying, 
"To  the  gallows  with  the  canaille!"  and  fired  from  four  pieces  of 
cannon  upon  the  people.  The  democratic  party,  surprised  at  first, 
promptly  rallied,  and  routed  the  aristocrats  and  papists.  Two  mar- 
quises and  an  abbe  were  killed.  The  neighboring  French  national 
guards,  having  rushed  to  the  aid  of  the  Avignon  patriots,  prevailed 
upon  them  to  cease  putting  prisoners  to  death  without  trial  (June 
10,  11). 

The  Avignon  people  decided  upon  reunion  with  the  French  na- 
tion ;  the  arms  of  the  Pope  were  everywhere  erased,  and  replaced 
by  the  arms  of  France.  Some  deputies  were  sent  to  the  National 
Assembly,  that  they  might  satisfy  this  reunion  of  brothers  with 
brothers. 

Three  days  after  the  outbreak  at  Avignon,  civil  war  broke  out 
in  Nimes  (June  13).  The  conflict  was  between  the  companies  of 
the  national  guard,  composed,  on  the  one  hand,  of  Protestant  citi- 
zens and  Catholic  patriots,  on  the  other  of  that  portion  of  the  people 
which  was  under  the  influence  of  the  clergy.  Protestant  houses 
were  broken  open,  and  old  men  strangled.  The  fanatical  party 
believed  itself  already  master ;  but  the  majority  of  the  Catholic  pop- 
ulation did  not  sustain  it.  The  expected  outside  aid  did  not  come. 
The  Protestant  mountaineers  of  the  Cevennes,  on  the  contrary,  ar- 
rived by  forced  marches,  bringing  with  them  a  number  of  Catholic 
peasants  and  even  patriot  curates. 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  107 

At  the  entrance  of  CeVenols,  at  daybreak,  they  were  fired  upon 
from  the  Capuchin  convent  They  carried  the  convent  by  assault, 
and  put  to  death  all  its  inmates ;  thence,  they  scattered  through  the 
town,  killing  all  who  wore  the  red  tuft,  the  rallying  sign  of  the 
fanatics.  The  old  chateaux  of  Nimes,  the  headquarters  of  the  red 
tufts,  furiously  defended  itself  until  evening.  It  was  at  last  forced, 
and  its  defenders  put  to  death.  The  chief  leader,  Froment,  the 
organizer  of  the  civil  war,  succeeded  in  escaping.  Several  hundreds 
of  his  followers  had  perished. 

The  first  attempts  at  armed  reaction  were  thus  violently  sup- 
pressed ;  unhappily,  these  were  only  the  prelude  to  the  terrific  con- 
flicts of  the  Revolution. 

The  news  from  Avignon  and  Nimes  fell  into  the  midst  of  the 
debates  of  the  Assembly  upon  the  organization  of  the  church,  which 
were  the  continuation  and  the  conclusion  of  the  debates  upon  the 
property  of  the  clergy.  The  Eight  renewed  its  clamors  and  its 
impotent  violence.  Several  bishops  protested  against  any  change 
not  brought  about  by  a  national  council.  By  this,  they  understood 
only  an  assembly  of  bishops,  which  would  have  had  no  moral 
authority.  The  low  clergy  had  no  more  confidence  in  the  bishops 
than  the  laity  had ;  they  had  invited  the  Assembly  itself  to  make 
all  necessary  changes  in  the  exterior  constitution  of  the  church. 
Some  deputies,  priests,  and  laymen,  patriots  with  republican  ten- 
dencies, and  at  the  same  time  fervent  Christians,  Jansenists  and 
Gallicans,  energetically  urged  forward  these  changes,  and  took  the 
principal  part  in  them.  These  were  the  curate  Gregoire,  the  advo- 
cate Camus,  and  others. 

The  majority,  who  adhered  to  the  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  united  with  the  Jansenists,  and  went  with  them  to  the 
end. 

Eobespierre,  who  as  yet  had  no  great  eclat  and  no  great  influence, 
but  who,  in  general,  went  to  the  bottom  of  questions,  demanded  the 
election  of  "  ecclesiastical  officers  "  by  the  people.  He  expressed 
here,  in  a  precise  manner,  the  sentiment  of  the  majority.  To  the 
Assembly,  priests  were  public  officers,  social  functionaries.  It  re- 


108  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IV. 

formed  the  church  as  a  part  of  the  national  administration ;  it 
decreed  that  instead  of  these  dioceses  and  parishes,  which  were  so 
monstrously  unequal  in  population  and  extent,  there  should  be  a 
bishopric  for  each  department  and  a  parish  for  each  commune ;  that 
the  bishops  and  the  curates  should  be  elected  by  the  people. 

Hence  came  what  they  called  the  CIVIL  CONSTITUTION  of  the 
clergy.  Its  adoption  was  followed  by  a  decree  ordering  the  total 
alienation  of  the  national  estates  (June  25). 

The  king,  thus  far,  had  sanctioned  and  passively  promulgated  all 
the  decrees  of  the  Assembly.  This  latter  decree,  more  than  all 
others,  troubled  his  conscience.  This  change  from  ecclesiastical 
usages  and  discipline  frightened  him;  and  although  not  touching 
the  foundations  of  belief,  it  seemed  to  him  to  overthrow  religion. 
He  wrote  secretly  to  Pope  Pius  VI.  a  letter  full  of  anxiety, .  in 
which  he  asked  his  decision,  and  the  issue  of  a  bull  upon  this  great 
matter.  •» 

If  France  had  as  a  nation  still  been  really  attached  to  the  old 
Gallican  Catholicism,  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy,  which 
suppressed  so  many  scandalous  abuses,  would  have  been  a  very  nat- 
ural and  logical  reform,  effecting  that  in  which  the  councils  of  the 
fifteenth  century  had  failed ;  but  ideas  and  beliefs  had  changed,  and 
the  disciples  of  Voltaire,  of  Rousseau,  of  the  Encyclopaedia,  who 
filled  the  Assembly  and  who  governed  France,  could  not  be  the 
reformers  of  Catholicism,  because  they  were  no  longer  Catholics. 
Their  adversaries  were  right  in  opposing  them  upon  this  point.  In 
the  state  at  which  opinions  in  religious  matters  had  arrived,  there 
remained  but  one  thing  to  do,  —  to  separate  Church  and  State ;  that 
is  to  say,  to  place  outside  the  government  all  pertaining  to  wor- 
ship. 

Minds  were  not  prepared  for  this  solution,  which  some  philoso- 
phers and  politicians  wished,  —  Condorcet,  La  Fayette,  Mirabeau 
even,  at  heart,  —  and  some  Parisian  journalists.  After  fourscore 
years  it  is  not  yet  definitely  realized.  The  people  rushed  on  to 
misfortunes  which  the  Constituent  Assembly  could  neither  foresee 
nor  avoid. 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  109 

Eobespierre  had  proposed  a  bold  method  of  definitely  attaching 
the  lower  clergy  to  the  Revolution  and  to  the  country ;  it  was  to 
declare  the  priests  free  to  marry  (May  10,  1790).  The  Assembly 
did  not  wish  to  meddle  with  this  grave  question,  and  utterly  failed 
to  see  that,  in  the  path  upon  which  it  had  now  entered,  such  inter- 
vention would  have  given  it  another  chance,  and  not  one  danger 
more. 


110  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  V. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY  (continued).  —  THE  FEDERATION. 
September,  1789,  to  July,  179O. 

WE  have  shown  what  conflicts  took  place,  both  in  the  As- 
sembly and  in  the  towns.  In  the  face  of  these  discords 
there  was  an  entirely  opposite  movement,  which  had  gone  on  in- 
creasing since  the  autumn  of  1789,  —  a  movement  of  union  and 
fraternity  between  individuals,  between  communes,  between  prov- 
inces, between  all  the  people  of  France. 

The  troubles  and  alarms,  which  had  not  entirely  ceased  in  the 
country  since  the  14th  of  July,  had  been  renewed  with  more  in- 
tensity at  the  beginning  of  the  winter  of  1789.  A  party  of  nobles 
and  prelates  having  still  demanded  the  feudal  rights  and  the  tithes, 
whose  abolition  had  thus  far  been  decreed  only  in  principle,  the 
peasants  in  several  provinces  had  recommenced  burning  the  cha- 
teaux ;  and  at  the  same  time  they  were  attacking  the  nobles,  they 
were  themselves  disquieted  anew  by  bands  of  mendicants  and  mal- 
efactors whom  they  believed  in  the  employ  of  foreigners  or  of  the 
counter-revolution.  The  national  guards  of  the  towns,  in  some 
places  where  the  nobles  showed  seditious  inclinations,  sustained  the 
peasants ;  but  in  general,  they  employed  themselves  in  restraining 
excesses,  from  whatever  part  they  came.  The  villages  at  first 
united  against  the  wandering  bands ;  then  towns  and  villages  joined 
together  in  mutual  good  understanding.  Each  restored  order  at 
home  as  best  it  could.  Almost  everywhere,  the  municipalities  had 
organized  themselves  after  the  example  of  Paris,  long  before  the 
National  Assembly  had  passed  the  municipal  law.  This  law  only 
legalized  what  the  people  had  done  under  a  unanimous  inspiration. 


1789.]  THE  FEDERATION.  Ill 

Each  municipality  at  first  thought  only  of  self-defence  and  self- 
support  ;  each  soon  began  to  think  of  aiding  others.  They  leagued 
together,  no  longer,  as  formerly,  to  stop  the  circulation  of  grain,  but 
to  facilitate  it ;  those  who  had  grain  sent  it  to  those  who  had  none. 
The  good  hearts  of  the  people  thus  arrived  at  the  same  result  as  the 
science  of  the  economists,  that  is  to  say,  at  free-trade. 

In  the  mediaeval  ages,  at  the  foundation  of  the  communes,  here 
and  there  in  the  northern  towns  of  France  had  been  seen  groups 
of  people  taking  the  oath  of  friendship  and  fraternity.  This  was 
again  seen  in  vast  proportions.  Everywhere  was  diffused  the  idea  of 
association,  of  federation.  By  this  word  "federation"  was  understood 
only  union,  voluntary  unity.  The  country  adhered  to  the  towns, 
the  towns  to  the  country.  There  were  federations  of  cantons,  and 
then  federations  of  provinces,  until  finally  all  the  provinces  turned 
to  the  centre,  to  Paris ;  there  was  the  grand  federation  of  all  France. 

This  movement  began  September  17,  1789,  under  the  direction 
of  a  patriot  curate,  by  the  federation  of  the  Franc-Comptois  villages 
in  the  environs  of  Luxeuil.  Then  Mounier,  having  attempted  in 
Dauphiny,  as  we  have  said,  to .  incite  the  Provincial  States  against 
the  National  Assembly,  a  number  of  towns  and  boroughs  of  Dau- 
phiny and  Vivarais  protested  against  this  attempt,  by  assembling 
their  national  guards  upon  the  plain  of  L'Etoile,  on  the  shores  of 
the  Ehone  not  far  from  Valence.  The  national  guards,  standing 
around  an  altar,  took  the  oath  to  abjure  all  distinctions  of  province, 
to  offer  their  arms,  their  fortunes,  and  their  lives  to  the  country  and 
the  defence  of  the  laws  emanating  from  the  National  Assembly; 
last  of  all,  they  swore  to  fly  to  the  relief  of  Paris,  or  other  towns, 
which  might  be  in  danger  for  the  cause  of  liberty  (November  29, 
1789). 

Fifteen  days  after,  a  more  extended  federation,  that  of  Dauphiny 
and  Vivarais,  was  formed  at  Montalimart.  Here  came  men  from 
Grenoble,  from  Lower  Languedoc,  and  from  Provence.  Here  was 
repeated  the  oath  of  national  unity  and  mutual  assistance. 

The  movement  continued  to  increase.  January  31,  1790,  a  third 
and  larger  federation  of  the  provinces  of  the  Southeast  was  formed 


I 
112  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  V. 

at  Valence.  Ten  thousand  national  guards,  representing  some 
hundreds  of  thousands,  knelt  and  renewed  the  oath  of  fealty  to 
France  in  the  presence  of  thirty  thousand  spectators  who  swore 
with  them. 

A  month  after,  the  mountaineers  of  Vivarais  en  masse,  a  hundred 
thousand  armed  peasants,  hastened  across  snows  and  precipices  to 
assemble  at  La  Voute,  opposite  Valence,  and  the  right  bank  of  the 
Ehone  responded  to  the  left  bank. 

At  Maubec  (Isere),  where  Jean  Jacques  Eousseau  had  sojourned 
during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  the  rural  communes  federated  under 
the  invocation  of  his  name.  It  was  a  priest  who  pronounced  the 
funeral  eulogium  of  the  great  philosopher. 

The  next  March,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ehone,  Protestants  and 
Catholics  formed  a  federation  near  Alais,  an  island  of  the  Gard.  A 
priest  and  a  Protestant  pastor  embraced  before  the  altar.  This 
presaged  the  defeat  of  the  fanatics,  which  took  place  at  Ximes  three 
months  later. 

The  West  heartily  responded  to  the  signal  of  the  South.  Brittany 
and  Anjou  formed  a  federation  in  January  at  Poutivi,  in  the  heart 
of  the  Breton  peninsula.  Here  assembled  delegates  from  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  national  guards  who  had  leagued  to- 
gether to  stifle  every  attempt  at  counter-revolution.  They  swore  to 
live  free  or  to  die,  and  to  pardon  the  enemies  of  the  Eevolution  if 
they  should  become  good  citizens. 

The  East,  at  this  moment,  formed  a  league  with  the  South.  In 
November,  1789,  the  fourteen  chief  towns  of  the  bailiwicks  of 
Franche-Comte  federated  to  assure  the  free  circulation  of  grain,  and 
to  prevent  monopolies.  The  rest  of  the  countiy  sided  with  them. 
Dijon,  the  capital  of  Lower  Burgundy,  was  not  content  with  taking 
sides ;  she  invited  all  the  Btirgundian  municipalities  to  assist  Lyons, 
which  had  need  of  grain.  Through  patriotic  Dijon,  the  two  Bur- 
gundies joined  hands  and  united  with  the  federations  of  the  South- 
east. 

The  mountaineers  of  the  Jura,  serfs  but  yesterday,  instituted  in 
their  federation  of  principal  villages  an  anniversary  of  the  Great 


1789.]  THE  FEDERATION.  113 

Night  of  the  4th  of  August.     This  anniversary  should  never  have 
been  allowed  to  fall  into  forgetfulness. 

These  vast  reunions  recalled  all  the  heroism  and  enthusiasm  of 
the  ancestral  Gauls,  all  there  was  beautiful  and  poetic  among  the 
Greeks.  The  people  assembled  under  the  open  heavens,  "before 
the  eye  of  the  light,"  as  the  ancient  Gauls  used  to  say,  in  broad 
valleys,  in  the  islands  of  the  rivers,  upon  seaside  cliffs,  upon  moun- 
tain summits  whence  the  eye  took  in  the  vast  horizons  of  a  country 
now  become  free.  The  grandeur  and  simplicity  of  ancient  times 
revived  in  this  rejuvenated  people,  and  blended  with  the  new  sen- 
timent of  universal  fraternity  the  new  ideal  of  a  country  which 
called  all  other  countries  its  sisters.  Emblems  of  labor  were  min- 
gled with  arms  destined  for  defence,  and  no  longer  for  conquest 
The  old  men  presided  at  the  fetes ;  women,  young  girls  clothed  in 
white  with  tricolored  girdles,  children  crowned  with  flowers,  de- 
filed in  long  processions  through  the  ranks  of  armed  men.  Upon 
the  frontiers,  where  there  came  from  without  rumors  of  war,  men- 
aces from  emigrants  and  kings,  even  young  girls  appeared  as  the 
Parisian  women  had  appeared  on  the  5th  of  October,  with  sword 
and  pike  in  hand. 

Touching  scenes  everywhere  blent  with  warlike  scenes.  At  Saint- 
Andeol,  in  Vivarais,  two  old  men  of  eighty-three  and  eighty-four 
years  took  first  of  all  the  civic  oath.  One  was  an  ancient  seigneur, 
the  other  a  poor  peasant.  They  embraced  in  sight  of  all  the  people, 
thanking  God  for  having  prolonged  their  lives  to  such  a  day.  Thou- 
sands of  every  age  and  of  every  condition  joined  hands  and  formed 
an  immense  choir  of  dancers,  extending  from  the  mountains  to  the 
Rhone. 

Everywhere  the  newly-born  were  brought  for  baptism  to  the 
altars  of  the  federation.  At  these  altars  marriages  and  adoptions 
•were  celebrated,  here  grand  distributions  were  made  to  the  poor. 
This  became  a  true  religion  of  country. 

All  the  provinces  entered  the  movement,  one  after  the  other,  — 
Champagne,  Lorraine,  Alsace,1  Normandy,  Angoumois,  the  country 
of  the  Loire.     Regiments  of  the  line  federated,  as  well  as  national 
8 


114  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  V. 

guards.  The  Metz  festival  took  place  on  the  4th  of  May.  The 
Marquis  de  BoiiiUe",  the  general  in  whom  the  counter-revolution 
hoped,  and  who  had  a  large  command  on  the  frontier,  was  forced  to 
take  the  oath  like  the  others.  The  king  himself  commanded  it, 
fearing  the  consequences  of  a  refusal. 

Orleans  and  Limoges  federated  on  the  9th  of  May,  Strasburg 
on  the  12th.  The  Ehine  wished  to  rival  the  Ehone.  From  the 
spire  of  the  Strasburg  Cathedral,  the  highest  in  Europe,  the  tri- 
colored  flag  floated  over  Alsace  and  Souabe,  as  an  appeal  to  liberty 
on  the  eastern  as  well  as  the  western  side  of  the  Ehine.  Upon  the 
beautiful  meadows  of  L'lll  was  witnessed  a  picturesque  ceremony, 
where  Alsace  displayed  that  skill  and  taste  in  public  fetes  she 
shares  with  Flanders.  This  charming  festival  was  crowned  by  an 
act  the  most  solemn  and  of  the  highest  religious  significance.  Two 
children,  born  in  the  two  religions,  were  presented  by  a  Catholic 
godfather  and  a  Protestant  godmother  to  a  curate  and  a  pastor,  who 
clasped  hands  after  this  dual  baptism.  Eising  above  all  sects,  the 
people  on  this  day  caught  glimpses  of  a  universal  religion. 

All  former  federations  were  surpassed  by  that  of  Lyons  (May  30). 
Fifty  thousand  national  guards,  Lyonaise,  or  sent  to  Lyons  by  all 
the  towns  of  the  East  and  South  from  Nanci  to  Marseilles,  assem- 
bled on  the  Perrache  peninsula  before  a  temple  of  Concord,  at  the 
base  of  a  colossal  statue  of  Liberty.  All  Lyons  and  its  environs 
cheered  the  national  guards  and  the  federation. 

The  day  after  this  Lyons  festival,  a  Lyonaise  journal  published,  in 
an  edition  of  sixty  thousand  copies,  an  eloquent  description  of  this 
beautiful  festival,  written  by  a  woman,  Madame  Eoland,  who  was 
destined  to  so  much  renown  and  so  much  misfortune.  In  the  words 
of  Michelet,  the  great  historian,  •  the  national  guards  of  the  prov- 
inces carried  inspiration  with  them,  and,  as  it  were,  the  soul  of  this 
sublime  woman. 

Proceeding  from  the  extremities,  the  federation,  ever  increasing, 
flowed  back  to  the  centre.  All  eyes  were  turned  toward  the  great 
city  which  was  the  head  of  the  Eevolution ;  as  for  its  heart,  that 
was  everywhere.  Bordeaux  and  Brittany  had  already  demanded  a 


1790.]  THE  FEDERATION.  115 

national  festival  at  Paris  on  the  14th  of  July,  the  anniversary  of  the 
taking  of  the  Bastille.  Mayor  Bailli  and  the  commune  of  Paris 
invited  all  the  departments  to  send  to  the  capital  deputations  in- 
structed to  conclude  with  the  Parisians  a  treaty  of  federation. 
The  National  Assembly  approved  this  project  of  the  commune. 
An  address  to  Frenchmen  was  published  in  the  name  of  the  citizens 
of  Paris.  "  Scarce  ten  months  have  flown,"  said  the  address,  "  since 
from  the  reconquered  walls  of  the  Bastille  arose  this  cry, '  We  are 
free ! '  Upon  the  anniversary  of  this  day,  let  a  still  more  touching 
cry  be  heard, '  We  are  brothers  ! ' " 

The  National  Assembly  decreed  that  all  the  national  guards  of 
France  should  send  one  deputy  for  every  two  hundred  men.  There 
were  in  France  three  millions  of  armed  citizens :  this  would  make 
fifteen  thousand  deputies.  The  Assembly  decided  that  the  armies 
of  the  land  and  sea  should  be  represented  by  eleven  thousand  vet- 
eran soldiers  and  sailors.  These  twenty-six  thousand  men  were  to 
set  out  in  little  bands  from  all  points  of  France,  finding  everywhere 
upon  their  route,  in  the  villages  and  in  the  towns,  open  doors,  open 
tables,  open  arms.  The  Parisians,  in  their  turn,  were  going  to  dis- 
pute for  these  guests. 

Paris  made  vast  preparations.  Her  citizens  had  resolved  to 
change  completely  the  aspect  of  the  Champs  de  Mars,  which  was 
to  be  the  theatre  of  the  federation.  It  was  a  plain  ;  they  wished  to 
make  of  it  a  broad  valley  between  two  long  ranges  of  hills.  In  this 
valley  the  national  guards  were  to  manoeuvre  around  the  altar  of 
country.  Two  long  slopes,  with  steps  rising  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
see,  were  to  bear  the  immense  throng  of  spectators.  Fifteen  thousand 
men  were  set  at  work,  but  the  prodigious  labor  advanced  but  slowly. 
It  was  the  7th  of  July  ;  the  fete  was  likely  to  prove  a  failure. 

In  a  single  day,  at  an  appeal  in  the  journals  from  a  member  of  the 
national  guard,  all  Paris  arose.  Three  hundred  thousand  men  and 
women  of  every  condition  and  every  age  proceeded  to  the  Champs 
de  Mars  and  went  to  work.  The  most  elegant  women  ran  about 
with  spade  and  mattock  in  hand.  The  brick-layers,  who  lived  upon 
their  work  from  day  to  day,  came  at  night,  the  day's  labor  ended, 


116  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  V. 

to  relieve  the  citizens.  All  sang  in  chorus  a  popular  air  which 
was  then  re-echoing  from  one  end  of  France  to  the  other,  and 
which  had  also  beguiled  the  deputations  from  the  departments  and 
the  army  during  their  long  journey :  — 

"Ah  !  9a  ira  !  9a ira  !  £a  ira ! 
Celui  qui  s'eleve,  on  1'abaissera  ; 
Celui  qui  s'abaisse,  on  1'elevera."* 

The  QA  IRA  !  was  then  a  joyous  refrain  which  rich  and  poor 
reiterated  cordially  together ;  it  became  later  an  ill-omened  chant 
of  vengeance  and  of  death  ! 

The  rain  fell;  all  remained  at  their  task,  even  the  fine  ladies. 
In  seven  days  the  gigantic  work  was  finished;  the  Champs  de 
Mars  was  ready. 

The  guests  of  Paris  arrived.  The  conquerors  of  the  Bastille  went 
even  beyond  Versailles  to  meet  the  Breton  federates.  The  fed- 
erates of  the  provinces  conquered  by  Louis  XIV.,  no  longer  found 
at  the  base  of  the  statue  of  the  Great  King,  upon  the  Place 
of  Victory,  statues  of  captives,  which  would  have  offended  their 
sight  by  recalling  to  them  the  days  of  the  conquest.  The  National 
Assembly  had  caused  these  statues  to  be  removed ;  they  had  been 
taken  to  the  Invalides,  where  they  still  remain. 

The  14th  of  July  dawned.  The  federation  extended  from  the 
Faubourg  du  Temple  to  the  Champs  de  Mars.  At  the  Place  Louis 
XV.,  the  National  Assembly  came  to  take  its  place  in  the  immense 
procession  between  a  battalion  of  old  men  and  a  battalion  of  chil- 
dren, who  recalled  to  mind  the  festivals  of  Greece  so  lauded  by 
Kousseau. 

Talleyrand,  Bishop  of  Autun,  who  had  proposed  taking  possession 
of  the  estates  of  the  clergy,  surrounded  by  two  hundred  priests 
wearing  tricolored  girdles,  said  mass  upon  the  altar  of  the  country, 
a  colossal  structure  one  hundred  feet  high,  and  blessed  the  banners 
of  the  eighty-three  departments.  La  Fayette,  in  the  name  of  the 

*  Not  translatable  into  rhyme.  In  literal  prose  :  "  Ah  !  that  will  do  !  that  will 
do  !  that  will  do !  He  who  exalts  himself  shall  be  abased  :  he  who  humbles  himself 
shall  be  exalted." 


1790.]  THE  FEDERATION. 

national  guard  of  Paris,  laying  his  sword  upon  the  altar,  took  the 
civic  oath.  A  hundred  cannon  thundered ;  four  hundred  thousand 
mouths  hurled  one  single  cry  to  heaven.  The  king,  always  embar- 
rassed and  timid,  did  not  approach  the  altar,  did  not  make  any 
speech ;  but  from  his  throne  placed  on  an  estrade  before  the 
military  school,  he  said :  "  I,  king  of  the  French,  swear  to  uphold 
the  Constitution  decreed  by  the  National  Assembly  and  accepted 
by  me." 

In  the  evening  a  banquet  of  twenty-two  thousand  covers  was 
served  to  the  federates  of  the  departments  in  the  gardens  of  La 
Muette.  The  dance  of  the  South,  the  farondole  of  the  banks  of  the 
Rhone,  was  joined  in  by  representatives  from  all  France. 

The  Parisians  retained  and  feted  their  guests  for  many  days.  The 
bust  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  crowned  with  oak-leaves,  was  borne 
around  in  triumph.  For  three  nights  there  were  balls  upon  the 
illuminated  site  of  the  Bastille.  Where  but  yesterday  those  sinister 
towers  had  arisen,  was  now  placed  this  inscription,  "  Dancing  Here  !" 

The  federates  at  last  departed,  bearing  with  them  into  the  most 
remote  corners  of  France  the  idea  of  national  unity  accomplished. 
England,  Germany,  Italy,  all  Europe,  gazed  and  listened  from  afar ; 
the  people  with  an  admiration  full  of  hope,  the  princes  and  the 
privileged  classes  with  rage  and  fear.  These  are  the  most  beauti- 
ful days  France  has  seen,  and  here  we  can  but  repeat  the  poet's 

words :  — 

"  Heureux  celui  qui  mourut  dans  ces  fetes  ! 
Dieu,  mes  enfants,  vous  donne  an  beau  trepas  ! "  * 

France,  in  this  mighty  impulse  toward  the  future,  had  risen  above 
herself.  She  could  not  sustain  such  enthusiasm,  and  this  splendid 
dawn  of  July  14  was  soon  obscured  by  frightful  storms.  That 
future  of  liberty  and  fraternity  proclaimed  by  the  fathers  is  not  yet 
secured  to  their  descendants  ;  it  is  for  them  to  show  if,  in  realizing 
it,  they  are  capable  of  saving  French  nationality,  and  of  continuing 
in  the  world  the  mission  of  France. 

*  "  Happy  is  he  who  dies  mid  festal  bliss  ! 

My  children,  God  grant  you  a  death  like  this  ! " 


118  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    CONSTITUENT    ASSEMBLY   (continued}.  —  FROM    THE    FEDERATION 
TO   THE  DEATH   OF   MIRABEAU. 

July,  1790,  to  April,  1794. 

THE  admirable  concord  of  the  federation  did  not  endure. 
Upon  the  great  day  of  July  14,  1790,  as  upon  the  great  night 
of  August  4,  men  were  lifted  above  themselves.  From  the  sublime 
exaltation  of  that  day  they  fell  back  into  the  passions,  the  interests, 
the  errors  of  yesterday.  Rumors  of  counter-revolutionary  conspira- 
cies, of  the  proceedings  of  emigrants  in  and  out  of  France,  agitated 
the  public  mind  and  excited  the  patriotic  journals  of  Paris  to 
redoubled  violence.  July  26  there  appeared  anonymously  a  terri- 
ble pamphlet  entitled  "It  is  All  over  with  Us!"  Citizens  were 
called  to  arms;  they  were  exhorted  to  place  the  king  and  the 
dauphin  under  strict  guardianship,  to  imprison  the  Austrian  woman 
(Marie  Antoinette)  and  her  brother-in-law  (Monsieur) ;  to  arrest  the 
ministers,  the  municipality,  and  the  general  (La  Fayette).  The 
author  declared  that  the  cutting  off  of  from  five  to  six  hundred 
heads  would  have  assured  the  liberty  and  the  happiness  of  France ; 
that  the  false  humanity  which  had  spared  these  heads  would  cost 
the  lives  of  millions  of  Frenchmen,  should  the  enemies  of  the  people 
triumph. 

All  the  world  divined  the  author.  One  writer  only  was  capable 
of  using  such  language. 

Among  the  journalists  who  were  then  inundating  Paris  with  their 
writings,  three  especially,  each  entirely  different  from  the  other, 
stirred  up  the  people.  Two  of  these  were  young  men  :  one  Camille 
Desmoulins,  who  since  1788  had  remained  at  the  breach,  and  whom 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  119 

his  ambition  for  being  foremost  had  led  very  far.  His  was  a  mind 
full  of  contrasts,  always  glowing  with  warmth,  passion,  and  verve, 
but  by  turns  refined  and  cynical,  humane,  and  urging  fatal  violence. 

The  second  was  the  honest  and  sincere  Loustalot,  so  serious,  so 
convincing  even  in  his  exaggerations,  and  so  much  inclined  to  take 
literally  certain  maxims  of  Rousseau's  Contrat  Social,  in  regard  to 
the  direct  government  of  the  people  by  the  people.  His  journal,  the 
Revolutions  de  Paris,  the  most  widely  circulated  of  all,  sometimes 
issued  two  hundred  thousand  copies.  It  bore  this  motto:  "The 
great  appear  great  to  us  only  because  we  are  on  our  knees.  Let  us 
rise." 

The  third  journalist,  a  physician  of  forty  years,  born  in  French 
Switzerland,  at  Neufchatel,  was  MARAT. 

It  was  he  who  now  demanded  five  or  six  hundred  heads,  and  who 
was  later  to  demand  three  hundred  thousand.  He  was  a  man  of 
eccentric  and  gloomy  disposition,  of  extreme  ugliness.  His  strange 
glance,  his  elevated  eyebrows,  and  the  folds  of  his  forehead  in  the 
portrait  of  him  painted  by  Bose,  give  him  the  air  of  a  madman. 
Long  poor  and  despised,  believing  himself  an  unappreciated  genius, 
he  had  at  the  same  time  a  sincere  sympathy  for  the  sufferings  of 
the  poor  and  humble,  and  a  jealous  hatred  against  all  who  possessed 
position,  fortune,  and  especially  renown.  Always  credulous  of  evil, 
he  had  made  his  journal,  "  The  Friend  of  the  People,"  the  receptacle 
of  all  accusations,  of  all  public  and  private  denunciations.  He  was 
incessantly  in  a  rage,  and  the  delirious  violence  of  his  language 
threw  into  a  sort  of  fever  the  populace  and  the  patriotic  press, 
while  on  the  other  hand  it  excited  insolent  raillery  or  rash  men- 
aces from  the  counter-revolutionary  journals.  The  latter,  as  if  to 
rival  Marat,  spoke  only  of  killing  and  hanging. 

At  first  Marat's  pamphlet  exasperated  the  moderate  and  fright- 
ened the  most  revolutionary  ;  but  on  the  morrow  came  tidings  that 
the  commandant  of  the  northern  frontier,  the  aristocratic  Bouille, 
had  ordered  passage  over  French  territory  to  be  given  to  the  Aus- 
trian troops  who  were  marching  toward  the  Meuse  to  put  down  the 
Belgian  revolt  against  the  house  of  Austria.  The  national  guards 


120  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

of  the  new  department  of  Ardennes  had  risen  in  a  body  to  prevent 
the  passage  of  the  Austrians. 

A  cry  of  rage  went  up  from  Paris.  This  was  really  treason. 
Marat,  they  exclaimed,  had  not  been  so  far  wrong !  The  people 
were  in  a  tumult.  The  National  Assembly  demanded  explanation 
of  the  ministers.  They  excused  themselves  as  best  they  could,  and 
withdrew  the  authorization  given  to  the  Austrians. 

In  the  Assembly,  the  Eight  tried  to  resume  the  offensive  by 
denouncing  Marat,  and  with  him  Canaille  Desmoulins,  who  had 
written  very  inflammatory  articles,  but  yet  without  demanding  any 
person's  head.  Eobespierre  defended  Camille,  and  the  Assembly 
authorized  proceedings  only  against  Marat's  pamphlet.  The  latter 
in  his  journal  arrogantly  braved  the  Assembly,  and  escaped  pursuit 
by  hiding  in  cellars,  from  the  depths  of  which  he  continued  to 
launch  his  furious  sheets. 

The  Eight  counted  much  upon  a  trial  which  had  for  a  long  time 
been  going  on  at  the  Chatelet  tribunal,  relative  to  the  days  of  the 
5th  and  6th  of  October.  The  aristocrats  imagined  that  this  trial 
would  demonstrate  the  complicity  of  Mirabeau  and  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  in  the  invasion  of  the  palace  of  Versailles  and  the  murder 
of  the  two  body-guards.  This  was  absurd  so  far  as  Mirabeau  was 
concerned,  though  probable  in  regard  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans ;  but 
there  was  no  proof,  and  the  attempt  made  to  destroy  this  prince, 
returned  from  England  before  the  federation,  served  only  to  restore 
him  to  popularity.  As  for  Mirabeau,  it  was  for  him  only  the  occa- 
sion of  a  new  triumph  in  the  Assembly ;  and  the  Assembly  on  one 
side,  the  commune  of  Paris  on  the  other,  boldly  declared  that  the 
people  of  Paris  in  marching  on  Versailles  had  thwarted  the  plots 
of  the  counter-revolution. 

The  tribunal  of  Chatelet  was  severely  blamed  for  having  pre- 
tended to  confound  the  great  popular  movement  of  October  5  with 
the  crimes  committed  by  a  band  of  madmen  on  the  morning  of  the 
6th  (August  to  October,  1790). 

During  this  time  events  which  had  transpired  in  the  army 
greatly  agitated  the  public  mind. 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  121 

The  Assembly  had  passed  important  decrees  concerning  the  army. 
It  had  declared  that  the  army  was  essentially  designed  to  fight  the 
foreign  enemies  of  the  country ;  that  foreign  troops  could  be  admitted 
into  the  kingdom  only  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  legislative  power;  that 
the  sums  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  the  army  should  be  fixed 
by  every  legislature  ;  that  no  soldier  could  be  deposed  from  his  em- 
ployment save  by  legal  decision ;  that  rank  could  no  longer  be  pur- 
chased ;  that  the  pay  of  soldiers  should  be  increased.  The  Assembly 
had  fixed  the  actual  army  in  time  of  peace  at  a  maximum  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-six  thousand  men. 

These  measures  did  not  solve  all  military  questions,  and,  good  as 
they  were  for  the  future,  did  not  do  away  with  the  dangers  and 
difficulties  of  the  present.  Mirabeau  had  proposed  that  at  that  very 
moment  the  army  be  reorganized  on  a  new  basis ;  but  this  proposi- 
tion had  not  been  followed. 

The  great  peril  was  the  misunderstandings  between  officers  and 
soldiers.  The  higher  officers  were,  for  the  most  part,  aristocrats;  the 
soldiers  and  lower  officers  were  for  the  Revolution.  Beside  political 
opposition,  there  were  money  quarrels.  Each  regiment  had  its 
savings-bank,  formed  of  arrears  in  the  poor  pay  of  the  soldiers. 
Officers  were  charged  with  the  duty  of  administering  these  banks, 
but  they  administered  ill,  and  rendered  no  account.  Under  the 
Ancient  Regime  the  soldier  had  been  obliged  to  endure  all.  Now, 
he  lifted  his  head ;  he  claimed  his  rights ;  he  demanded  accounts. 
The  officers,  angry  at  these  demands,  did  all  they  could  to  vex  the 
soldiers,  even  going  so  far  as  to  drive  the  most  patriotic  from  the 
regiments  in  disgrace. 

All  this  resulted  in  new  troubles  in  the  Eastern  garrisons.  At 
Xanci  the  king's  regiment,  a  select  corps  which  had  almost  the 
same  privileges  as  the  ancient  French  guards,  mutinied  to  prevent 
the  arrest  of  a  soldier  who  had  disobeyed  an  order.  The  command- 
ant was  obliged  to  yield.  A  sedition  of  the  same  kind  in  regard  to 
a  regimental  savings-bank  took  place  at  Metz  under  the  very  eyes 
of  General  Bouille. 

The  National  Assembly  forbade  deliberative  associations  of  the 


122  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

regiments,  implored  the  king  to  have  the  accounts  verified  by  gen- 
eral officers,  and  decided  that  while  every  new  insurrection  should 
be  rigorously  suppressed,  all  future  complaints  must  be  made  di- 
rectly to  the  minister  of  war  or  to  the  Assembly  (August  6). 

The  ferment  continued  at  Nanci.     The  king's  rejriment  having 

o  o  O 

obtained  a  portion  of  the  money  due  on  its  back  pay,  a  foreign 
corps  of  the  same  garrison  also  demanded  its  accounts.  It  was 
the  Chateauvieux  regiment,  composed  of  French-speaking  Swiss, 
subjects  of  the  aristocratic  cantons  of  Berne  and  Fribourg.  Their 
officers,  patricians  and  aristocrats,  treated  them  very  ill.  The  two 
soldiers  who  had  presented  the  demand  in  the  name  of  their  com- 
rades were  arrested  and  flogged. 

This  made  a  terrible  uproar  in  the  garrison  and  among  the  towns- 
people. All  patriots,  in  the  provinces  as  well  as  at  Paris,  loved  this 
regiment,  because,  being  one  of  those  encamped  in  the  Champs  de 
Mars  at  the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  it  had  shown  so  much  sympathy 
for  the  Parisians,  and  had  done  much  to  prevent  the  commandant 
of  the  Champs  de  Mars  from  marching  against  the  people. 

The  soldiers  of  the  king's  regiment  and  of  a  regiment  of  French 
cavalry  took  the  two  Swiss  who  had  been  beaten  and  marched 
them  in  triumph  through  the  town;  they  also  forced  the  Swiss 
officers  to  pay  each  of  them  an  indemnity  of  one  hundred  louis. 
The  French  and  Swiss  soldiers  regaled  each  other,  and  also  regaled 
the  poor  of  the  city. 

Discipline  was  lost.  Despatches  sent  to  Paris  by  the  command- 
ant much  exaggerated  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  La  Fayette 
was  frightened  at  the  disorganization  of  the  army,  and  thought  only 
of  restoring  order  at  any  price.  He  urged  the  Assembly  to  pass 
a  hasty  decree,  ordering  the  pursuit,  as  criminals  guilty  of  treason 
against  the  nation,  of  the  soldiers  who,  having  taken  part  in  the 
rebellion,  did  not  immediately  give  a  written  acknowledgment  of 
penitence  to  their  leaders  (August  16). 

At  the  solicitation  of  the  Nanci  national  guard,  the  soldiers 
yielded,  and  signed  "  an  act  of  penitence,"  while  respectfully  asking 
the  Assembly  to  redress  their  grievances. 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  123 

Things  were  in  a  fair  way  toward  reconciliation,  when  a  general 
officer  arrived  at  Nanci,  commissioned  to  regulate  the  accounts  of 
the  garrison. 

This  general,  named  Malseigne,  was  energetic  and  capable,  but 
severe.  He  spoke  so  rudely  to  the  Swiss  that  they  rebelled  against 
him.  Other  regiments  also  rebelled  upon  hearing  that  General 
Bouille,  who  was  at  Metz,  and  Malseigne  were  in  league  with  the 
Austrians  to  aid  the  counter-revolution. 

Malseigne  fled  to  Luneville,  pursued  by  a  body  of  cavalry  from 
the  garrison.  A  regiment  of  riflemen,  which  was  at  Luneville, 
charged  upon  and  killed  the  foremost  of  the  Nanci  cavalry ;  but  the 
next  day  they  turned  and  gave  up  Malseigne,  upon  condition  that 
no  harm  be  done  him  until  he  had  been  tried  by  the  Assembly. 
Meantime  the  soldiers  at  Nanci  had  arrested  and  imprisoned  the 
commander  of  the  place. 

There  was  now  open  rebellion,  and  to  the  Marquis  de  Bouille, 
commandant  of  the  northern  and  eastern  frontiers,  belonged  the 
duty  of  suppressing  it.  La  Fayette  imagined  that  he  could  win 
over  to  the  Revolution  this  distinguished  general,  his  relative,  by 
showing  confidence  in  him  and  supporting  him  in  the  Assembly. 
He  employed  his  influence  with  the  Lorraine  national  guards  to 
induce  them  to  second  Bouille. 

But  the  distrust  of  Bouille  was  too  great.  He  was  joined  only  by 
a  few  hundreds  of  the  national  guard.  He  took  with  him  the  most 
reliable  soldiers  of  the  Swiss  and  German  corps,  and  marched  upon 
Nanci  with  three  thousand  foot  soldiers  and  fourteen  hundred  cav- 
alry. It  was  an  insufficient  force  to  overpower  the  three  regiments 
of  the  Nanci  garrison  and  the  people  of  the  city  who  sustained 
them,  had  these  regiments  been  fully  resolved  upon  civil  war. 

They  were  far  from  this  resolution,  and  great  anxiety  prevailed 
among  them.  They  despatched  a  deputation  to  Bouille.  This 
general  declared  that  the  garrison  must  leave  the  town,  with 
Malseigne  and  the  commandant  of  the  place  at  its  head,  and  that 
four  men  from  each  regiment  must  be  delivered  up  to  be  sent  to 
the  Assembly  and  tried  according  to  the  utmost  rigor-  of  the  law. 


124  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

The  soldiers  tried  anew  to  mollify  him.  He  challenged  them  to 
obey  within  an  hour,  and  marched  on.  The  two  French  regiments 
left  after  having  released  Malseigne  and  the  commandant.  A  great 
portion  of  the  Swiss  from  Chateauvieux  remained  posted  at  one  of 
the  gates,  the  Stainville  gate,  with  national  guards  who  would  not 
abandon  them.  Bouille  made  his  soldiers  march  upon  the  Stain- 
ville gate.  The  defenders  of  the  gate,  who  had  cannon,  wished  to 
fire.  Desilles,  a  young  officer  of  the  king's  regiment,  threw  him- 
self at  the  cannon's  mouth  to  prevent,  at  any  price,  the  signal  for 
conflict  being  given.  He  was  pushed  away,  but  he  heroically  per- 
sisted in  keeping  his  place,  amid  cannon-shot  and  bayonet-thrusts, 
and  they  at  length  tore  him  from  the  cannon  riddled  with  wounds. 
The  cannon  was  fired,  but  Bouille's  soldiers  rushed  on  and  forced 
the  gate.  Its  defenders  took  refuge  in  the  houses,  whence  they 
kept  up  a  murderous  fire,  and  a  furious  combat  went  on  in  the 
midst  of  the  town. 

The  two  French  regiments  hesitated.  They  did  not  move,  and 
the  Swiss,  with  the  people  of  Nanci  who  fought  with  them,  were  at 
last  overpowered.  Several  hundreds  had  been  killed  on  one  side 
and  the  other  (August  31). 

That  which  followed  was  worse  than  carnage.  Twenty-one  of 
the  Chateauvieux  soldiers  were  hanged,  and  a  twenty-second  died 
beneath  the  horrible  torture  of  the  wheel.  They  had  been  sen- 
tenced by  their  own  officers.  The  last  of  the  condemned,  when 
stretched  upon  the  wheel,  cried,  "  Bouille  is  a  traitor !  I  die  inno- 
cent !  Vive  la  Nation  !  " 

The  municipality  of  Nanci,  which  was  aristocratic,  but  which 
had  passively  obeyed  the  garrison  and  the  popular  party  until  the 
advent  of  Bouille,  avenged  itself  by  instituting  a  true  reign  of  terror 
against  the  patriots. 

The  National  Assembly  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Bouilld  for 
having  re-established  order;  these  thanks  it  afterwards  regretted. 
A  funereal  fete  was  celebrated  on  the  Champs  de  Mars  in  memory 
of  the  national  guards  and  soldiers  of  Bouille's  army  killed  in  the 
attack  upon  Nanci.  A  funereal  fete,  indeed !  It  was  far  different 


1790.]  'THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  125 

from  that  other  fete  the  Champs  de  Mars  had  witnessed  a  few  weeks 
before.  The  Revolution  was  now  divided  against  itself. 

While  La  Fayette  was  making  a  portion  of  the  national  guards 
of  Paris  vote  addresses  to  the  Lorraine  national  guards  who  had 
aided  Bouille,  mobs  of  the  Parisian  populace  menaced  the  hotels  of 
the  ministers,  accusing  them  of  having  assisted  this  general  in  pro- 
ducing a  counter-revolution.  There  was  among  the  Parisian  masses 
a  keen  resentment  and  a  profound  sorrow.  The  editor  of  the  Revo- 
lutions de  Paris,  Loustalot,  had  been  stricken  to  the  heart  by  the 
events  at  Xanci.  He  died  a  few  days  after,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
eight.  The  Revolution  lost  much  in  this  honest,  courageous  young 
man.  His  famous  journal  passed  into  unworthy  hands. 

Another  misfortune  was  the  decline  in  the  popularity  of  La  Fay- 
ette. He  had  not  changed,  he  would  never  change  ;  but  he  deceived 
himself,  he  was  deceived  by  others ;  and  henceforth  he  became 
more  and  more  suspected  by  the  active  and  ardent  portion  of  the 
revolutionary  party. 

In  consequence  of  the  catastrophe  of  Nanci,  there  disappeared 
from  the  political  stage  a  man  who  had  held  a  large  place  in  French 
history,  but  whose  role  had  been  growing  less  and  less  since  the  first 
crises  of  the  Revolution.  It  was  Necker,  the  minister  of  finance. 
He  had  no  longer  influence  in  the  Assembly,  where  others  than  he 
had  discovered  the  grand  financial  resource  of  the  Revolution,  the 
ASSIGNATS.  The  people  who  but  yesterday  had  hailed  his  return 
with  enthusiasm,  now  pursued  him  with  the  same  clamors  that 
greeted  the  other  ministers;  they  called  him  an  accomplice  of 
Bouille*.  Feeling  that  his  political  career  was  ended,  he  tendered 
his  resignation  and  departed  (September  8). 

In  a  little  town  of  Champagne  the  inhabitants  arrested  as  a  fugi- 
tive conspirator  this  man  whom  France  a  year  before  had  led  back 
in  triumph  to  Versailles.  The  Assembly  had  to  send  an  order  for 
him  to  be  allowed  to  continue  his  journey. 

He  retired  to  his  native  country,  to  the  shores  of  Lake  Geneva. 
Here  he  wrote  an  account  of  his  administration,  in  which  he  com- 
plains piteously  of  the  ingratitude  of  the  Assembly.  Silence  would 


126  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

have  been  more  dignified;  and  yet  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel 
interested  in  his  plaints.  He  was  too  full  of  himself,  but  he  had 
sincerely  wished  the  good  of  his  country,  and  that  country  should 
have  remembered  that  it  was  he  who  had,  so  to  speak,  nourished 
France  during  that  terrible  winter  of  1788. 

His  disinterestedness  had  been  as  absolute  as  that  of  La  Fayette. 
While  other  ministers  of  the  Ancient  Regime,  even  the  greatest  and 
the  best,  had  made  colossal  fortunes  as  the  price  of  their  services, 
Necker  and  La  Fayette  never  accepted  a  penny  from  the  state,  and 
La  Fayette  expended  the  greater  part  of  his  fortune  for  the  public 
good. 

The  National  Assembly  decreed  that  it  would  henceforth  itself 
direct  the  public  treasury.  This  was  to  place  its  hand  upon  the 
essential  source  of  executive  power.  Nevertheless,  the  disposal  of 
his  rich  civil  list  remained  to  the  king. 

The  condition  of  the  finances  had  again  become  frightful.  The 
reforms  decreed  by  the  Assembly  had  created  a  new  and  enormous 
debt.  Upon  the  state  fell  the  reimbursement  of  numerous  venal 
charges  of  judicature,  finance,  and  other  things,  which  had  just  been 
suppressed ;  the  payment  of  many  securities  and  indemnities  of  all 
sorts ;  it  was,  as  Louis  Blanc  has  well  said  in  his  History  of  the 
Eevolution,  the  LIQUIDATION  OF  THE  ANCIENT  REGIME.  All  this 
created  a  debt,  payable  on  demand,  of,  so  it  is  pretended,  almost  a 
billion  eight  hundred  and  eighty  millions, —  more  than  four  billions 
of  our  day !  The  interest  of  this  debt  was  more  than  one  hundred 
and  sixty-eight  millions. 

The  expenses  were  overwhelming,  the  receipts  uncertain.  In  cer- 
tain provinces  there  were  real  conspiracies  among  the  tax-collectors 
attached  to  the  Ancient  Re'gime,  to  retard  rather  than  hasten  re- 
turns. The  Assembly  had  to  menace  with  severe  penalties  every 
tax-gatherer  who  delayed  his  collections.  On  the  10th  of  Septem- 
ber the  public  treasury  would  have  been  obliged  to  suspend  pay- 
ment, if  the  Caisse  had  not  advanced  it  ten  millions. 

The  four  hundred  millions  of  assignats  issued  was  entirely  in- 
sufficient to  replace  the  specie  which  continued  to  be  concealed  or 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  127 

exported.  Mirabeau,  at  first  opposed  to  paper-money,  saw  that  there 
was  now  no  other  resource,  and  in  spite  of  the  virulent  opposition 
of  the  Right,  and  even  of  the  friends  of  the  Revolution,  he  induced 
the  Assembly  to  decree  a  new  issue  of  eight  hundred  millions  of 
assignats,  to  reimburse  the  most  urgent  portion  of  the  public  debt. 
In  order  to  reassure  those  who  feared  lest  these  issues  might  become 
unlimited,  and  financial  ruin  follow,  Mirabeau  obtained  a  decision 
from  the  Assembly,  that  there  should  never  exist  more  than  twelve 
hundred  million  assignats  at  a  time.  The  ancient  domains  of  the 
crown  and  the  clergy,  the  NATIONAL  ESTATES,  were  worth  four  times 
as  much,  and  if  this  limit  was  maintained,  there  would  not  be  the 
least  danger. 

Nevertheless,  the  majority  was  only  five  hundred  and  eighteen 
against  four  hundred  and  twenty-three  (September  29).  The  minor- 
ity feared  that  the  decree  might  not  be  always  respected;  but  Mira- 
beau and  the  majority  judged,  with  reason,  that  above  all  things  it 
was  necessary  to  avert  impending  bankruptcy.  They  could  not  be 
rendered  responsible  for  catastrophes  which  might  follow  when  the 
misfortunes  of  the  time  had  overthrown  the  barriers  they  had  set. 

Minds  became  more  and  more  irritated.  The  troubles  on  both 
sides  were  renewed  in  town  and  country ;  now  by  political  feeling, 
now  by  the  dearness  of  food.  The  Brest  sailors  mutinied,  because 
the  Assembly,  in  mitigating  the  chastisements  practised  in  the  ma- 
rine, had  allowed  some  corporal  punishments  to  remain,  judging 
them  needful  for  discipline. 

The  most  violent  scenes  took  place  in  the  National  Assembly. 
They  usually  came  from  aristocrats  of  the  Right,  exasperated  at 
being  in  the  minority,  and  not  able  to  prevent  the  votes  which  dis- 
pleased them.  These  gentlemen,  habituated  to  the  use  of  the  sword, 
did  not  hesitate  to  insult  their  colleagues  of  the  Left.  Charles  de 
Lameth,  himself  a  noble,  driven  to  extremities  by  the  nobles,  fought 
with  an  M.  de  Castries,  and  was  wounded.  Upon  a  false  report  that 
his  wound  was  mortal,  the  populace  totally  destroyed  the  Hotel  de 
Castries,  without  pillaging  at  all  (November  12,  1790). 

Since  the  affair  of  Nanci,  the  indignation  of  the  masses  against 


128  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

the  ministers  had  not  lessened,  and  many  leaders  of  the  Left,  Du- 
port,  Barnave,  and  the  brothers  Lameth,  who  aimed  to  place  their 
friends  in  the  ministry,  urged  on  the  popular  movement.  Necker 
having  fallen,  they  worked  to  cast  down  his  colleagues.  Novem- 
ber 10,  the  forty-eight  sections  of  Paris  called  upon  the  Assembly  to 
demand  the  dismissal  of  the  ministers  and  their  trial  before  a  high 
national  tribunal. 

This  address  was  read  before  the  Assembly  by  a  man  who  had 
begun  to  acquire  great  influence  among  the  people  of  Paris.  It  was 
the  advocate  Danton,  a  new  Mirabeau,  who  had  risen  from  the 
midst  of  the  democracy.  He  resembled  Mirabeau  in  his  enormous 
head  and  shaggy  hair,  in  his  imposing  ugliness,  in  his  eloquence, 
bold,  impetuous,  and  full  of  grand  images.  Subject  to  the  same 
accusations  of  corruption  as  Mirabeau,  but  without  any  proof;  much 
less  vicious  than  Mirabeau,  despite  the  reputation  they  gave  him, 
misinterpreting  to  his  disadvantage  the  crudity  of  his  language ; 
more  violent  than  Mirabeau,  he  could  allow  himself  to  be  led  on  to 
terrible  acts  which  Mirabeau  would  never  have  committed;  but  like 
Mirabeau,  he  was  also  capable  of  the  most  generous  transports. 

The  blow  struck  by  Danton  took  effect.  Several  of  the  ministers 
retired.  It  was  those  who  in  accord  with  Necker  had,  in  an  under- 
handed way,  incited  the  Assembly  to  that  decree,  forbidding  the 
ministry  to  its  members.  Through  this  they  had  kept  Mirabeau 
from  the  ministry.  Neither  the  king  nor  the  Assembly  had  gained 
by  it, 

Three  of  the  ministers  who  had  resigned  were  replaced  by  men 
attached  to  the  Eevolution.  Two  members  of  the  old  ministry  still 
remained,  the  ministers  of  the  interior  and  of  foreign  affairs.  This 
sufficed  to  keep  suspicion  still  alive. 

Grave  events  in  the  provinces  kept  up  the  alarm  and  resentment 
of  the  patriots.  In  those  very  departments  of  the  Languedoc  Moun- 
tains which  had  been  the  scene  of  such  enthusiastic  federations,  the 
aristocratic  party  and  the  clergy  had  succeeded  in  usurping  many1 
of  the  functions  of  the  municipalities  and  the  offices  of  the  national 
guard.  This  party  attempted  a  sort  of  counter-federation,  in  a  grand 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  129 

reunion  which  they  called  the  Camp  de  Jales.  It  undertook  to 
appoint  a  permanent  committee,  which  would  have  been  an  absolute 
counter-revolutionary  government.  The  National  Assembly  ordered 
the  dissolution  of  this  committee,  and  was  obeyed  only  after  much 
delay  and  resistance. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  emigrants,  reunited  at  Turin  around  Count 
d'Artois,  had  plotted  a  bold  stroke  upon  Lyons.  They  dreamed  of 
making  it  the  capital  of  France  in  place  of  Paris.  The  project  was 
discovered.  The  Eevolution  considered  itself  menaced  by  a  for- 
eign as  well  as  a  domestic  enemy.  The  German  princes  and  lords 
who  had  domains,  ancient  fiefs  of  the  empire,  in  Alsace,  in  Lor- 
raine, and  in  Franche-Comte,  had  protested  against  the  decrees  of 
the  4th  of  August,  which  made  their  privileged  possessions  amena- 
ble to  the  common  law  (January,  1790).  The  German  Emperor  and 
the  king  of  Prussia  supported  this  protest.  France  offered  indem- 
nities. They  refused,  and  claimed  to  retain  in  France,  in  spite  of 
her  wishes,  privileges  incompatible  with  the  new  laws. 

When  we  know  that,  during  the  preceding  summer,  Austria  and 
Prussia,  which  had  been  on  ill  terms  and  had  seemed  on  the  point  of 
going  to  war,  became  reconciled,  and  held  at  Reichenbach  a  conven- 
tion to  discuss  the  general  affairs  of  Europe,  we  cannot  doubt  that 
these  two  powers  had  leagued  together  against  the  Revolution. 

Events  upon  the  northern  frontier  continued  to  keep  up  the 
public  agitation.  The  Emperor  Joseph  IT.  having  wished  to  reform 
upon  a  uniform  plan  the  institutions  of  all  the  different  peoples 
composing  the  Austrian  monarchy,  the  people,  disturbed  in  their 
habitudes,  had  everywhere  rebelled  against  these  changes  for  the 
most  part  advantageous,  but  imposed  in  too  brusque  and  arbitrary  a 
fashion.  Belgium  had  revolted,  and  driven  away  the  Emperor's 
troops.  Liege,  oppressed  by  its  bishop-prince,  had  also  rebelled. 
The  two  revolutions  of  Belgium  and  Liege  were  entirely  unlike : 
that  of  Liege  was  democratic ;  that  of  Austrian  Belgium  was  clerical 
and  aristocratic.  In  Brabant  and  in  Flanders  it  was  the  privileged 
ones  who  had  armed  the  people,  because  the  Emperor  Joseph  II. 
wished  to  destroy  their  privileges,  for  the  profit  of  monarchical 
9 


130  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

unity.  During  the  progress  of  these  events,  Joseph  II.  died  (Feb- 
ruary 20,  1790),  having  failed  in  all  his  enterprises;  for  even 
Hungary  was  moving  against  him,  and  he  had  not  succeeded  in  an 
attack  concerted  with  Eussia  against  the  Turkish  Empire. 

His  brother  and  his  successor,  Leopold  II.,  tried  to  recover  Bel- 
gium both  by  negotiation  and  by  arms.  The  Belgians,  scarce  en- 
franchised, were  divided.  There  was  formed  a  liberal  and  demo- 
cratic party  which  wished  to  direct  the  Belgic,  after  the  manner  of 
the  French  Eevolution ;  but  the  nobles  and  the  clergy,  who  had  the 
power  in  their  hands,  violently  put  down  the  democratic  party.  It 
ensued  that  La  Fayette  and  the  National  Assembly,  at  first  dis- 
posed to  sustain  the  Belgic  revolution,  grew  cold  toward  it.  When 
the  artistocratic  Belgian  government  solicited  the  aid  of  France, 
without  being  willing  to  make  concessions  to  the  democrats  at 
home,  it  obtained  nothing.  Singularly,  it  had  been  only  the  most 
advanced  faction  of  revolutionary  opinion,  and  the  most  ardent 
journals,  which  had  wished  France  to  interfere.  They  would  have 
sustained  a  revolution,  even  retrograde,  against  a  king,  hoping  that  the 
democracy  would  come  out  uppermost.  The  Emperor  Leopold  could 
at  his  ease  prepare  the  ruin  of  this  ill-directed  Belgian  revolution. 

England  began  also  to  cause  great  anxiety.  The  French  Revolu- 
tion had  at  first  excited  lively  sympathy  in  that  country ;  but  a  reac- 
tion had  very  soon  come  among  a  goodly  number  of  these  English 
aristocrats,  Whigs  or  Tories,  who  well  saw  that  liberty  and  equality, 
as  they  were  understood  in  France,  differed  widely  from  their  privi- 
leged and  traditional  liberties.  They  feared  lest  French  ideas  might 
be  introduced  into  their  isle.  About  the  commencement  of  the 
year  1790,  a  celebrated  orator,  who  had  until  then  manifested  liberal 
sentiments,  made  a  speech  in  the  English  Parliament  against  the 
French  Revolution,  pretending  that  it  was  the  suicide  of  France, 
that  France  would  henceforth  be  only  a  vast  waste  on  the  map  of 
Europe.  This  orator  was  Edmund  Burke.  Upon  this  occasion  he 
fell  out  with  his  best  friend,  James  Fox,  the  other  chief  of  the 
opposition,  a  generous  soul,  an  open  mind  and  heart,  who  always 
remained  faithful  to  his  affection  for  new  France. 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  131 

Since  the  autumn  of  1789,  the  adversaries  of  the  Revolution, 
both  in  France  and  in  foreign  lands,  had  been  publishing  against  it 
pamphlet  after  pamphlet.  The  libels  of  Calonne,  an  old  minister 
dismissed  for  his  dishonesty,  or  those  of  the  first  emigrants  of  July 
14,  had  produced  no  great  effect ;  but  when  Mounier,  a  man  who  had 
made  so  great  a  figure  in  the  first  period  of  the  Revolution,  came  to 
write  against  it,  and  with  Mounier  other  men  of  reputation  and 
talent  who,  like  him,  had  abandoned  the  revolutionary  cause,  this 
began  to  make  an  impression.  Burke  collected,  exaggerated,  and 
envenomed  all  that  Frenchmen  had  written  against  the  French 
Revolution,  and  launched  against  it  a  book  of  furious  eloquence, — 
"  Reflections  upon  the  French  Revolution." 

At  the  foundation  of  this  book  lay  inconsistency,  even  iniquity. 
Burke,  like  all  politicians  of  the  Whig  party,  had  incessantly  lashed 
the  despotic  government  of  France ;  and  as  soon  as  France  shook 
off  this  despotism  and  endeavored  to  give  herself  a  free  organi- 
zation, these  pretended  friends  of  liberty  furiously  attacked  her. 
They  represented  her  to  Europe  as  a  country  of  savages,  because  she 
had  committed  some  excesses,  although  they  were  far  less  than  had 
taken  place  in  the  English  Revolution  of  the  preceding  century. 

Burke  wrote  as  if  the  French  Revolution  had  overthrown  a  legal 
and  constitutional  order,  to  substitute  anarchy  in  its  place ;  but  he 
well  knew  the  contrary :  that  all  ancient  liberty  had  been  destroyed 
in  France,  and  that  until  1789  it  had  only  an  arbitrary  government. 

Thirty  thousand  copies  of  Burke's  book  circulated  through  all 
the  courts  and  throughout  all  the  European  aristocracy  like  brands 
lighted  to  set  fire  to  Europe.  Meanwhile  its  author,  through  secret 
correspondence,  stirred  up  the  queen,  Marie  Antoinette,  the  court, 
the  emigrants,  to  conspire  against  the  Revolution.  "  Xo  terms  with 
rebels  ! "  cried  he ;  "  appeal  to  neighboring  sovereigns  ;  and  above 
all  confide  in  the  aid  of  foreign  armies." 

The  English  partisans  of  the  French  Revolution  replied  by  vigor- 
ous writings  and  energetic  discourses  in  Parliament.  The  prime- 
minister,  William  Pitt,  kept  in  the  background,  but  France  believed 
him  in  accord  with  Burke ;  she  imagined  she  saw  the  hand  and  the 


132  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

money  of  England  in  her  troubles,  and  suspected  Pitt  of  laboring 
to  prepare  a  coalition  against  her,  which  was  (the  advanced  revo- 
lutionary party  did  not  doubt)  urgently  demanded  by  Marie  An- 
toinette, if  not  by  Louis  XVI. 

The  danger  was  not  so  imminent  as  ardent  patriots  believed.  Pitt 
did  not  dream  of  making  war  upon  France.  The  general  state  of 
affairs  in  Europe  secured  a  respite  to  the  Eevolution ;  but  the 
moderate,  the  wise,  were  deceived ;  it  was  the  ardent  revolutionists 
who  saw  clearly  in  their  suspicions  of  the  secret  correspondence 
of  the  court  with  foreign  powers. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1790  an  event  easy  to  foresee  increased 
the  ferment  in  France.  The  Emperor  Leopold,  after  having  cajoled 
the  Belgians  by  promises  of  liberal  concessions,  sent  an  army  to 
Belgium  and  resumed  possession  of  the  country  without  much  re- 
sistance. The  Austrians  also  invaded  Liege,  and  again  placed  its 
inhabitants  under  the  yoke  of  their  bishop.  The  facility  with 
which  the  Belgian  revolution  had  been  quelled,  deluded  many 
people  in  Europe  as  to  the  result  of  the  French  Revolution. 

The  French  Eevolution  felt  itself  strong,  but  it  also  knew  itself 
to  be  menaced.  Hence  the  extraordinary  means  to  which  those  of 
its  friends  resorted  who  were  resolved  to  contend  for  and  to  achieve 
all ;  hence  the  new  organization  they  formed.  The  whole  ancient 
administration  of  the  kingdom  being  dissolved,  and  the  administra- 
tion of  the  new  regime  not  being  fully  constituted,  outside  the 
Assembly  there  was  no  efficient  power  save  the  new  municipal 
authorities  and  the  leaders  of  the  national  guard.  But  these  new 
authorities,  so  diverse,  were  themselves  objects  of  suspicion,  some 
wrongly,  others  rightly.  At  least,  upon  many  points  they  seemed 
weak  and  insufficient  for  the  defence  of  the  Revolution.  Men  the 
most  resolute,  the  most  defiant,  the  most  persistent,  in  all  localities, 
joined  together,  giving  themselves  a  mission  of  surveillance  and 
then  a  power  of  action,  arrogating  to  themselves  an  authority  which 
in  fact  surpassed  that  of  the  legal  authorities.  The  federation  had 
been  a  movement  of  expansion  and  of  universal  sympathy ;  this 
was,  on  the  contrary,  a  movement  of  distrust,  of  concentration,  and 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  133 

of  menacing  precaution.  The  centre  and  the  head  of  this  move- 
ment was  the  "  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  Constitution,"  which 
was  the  ancient  Breton  Club  of  Versailles,  transferred  to  the  Jaco- 
bin Convent  of  the  Eue  St.  Honore,  and  become  the  famous  Jacobin 
Club. 

This  club  was  at  first  only  a  reunion  of  members  of  the  Left 
in  the  Assembly ;  there  still  remained  a  large  number  of  deputies, 
but  the  members  outside  the  Assembly  became  far  more  numerous. 
In  December,  1790,  the  club  numbered  more  than  eleven  hundred 
members,  among  whom  were  many  distinguished  men  of  all  profes- 
sions. The  Jacobins  did  not  lightly  admit  affiliations ;  the  associa- 
tion was  very  strongly  organized,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  gain 
influence  throughout  France  by  a  vast  correspondence,  and  by  being 
advised  of  what  was  going  on  in  all  departments.  Upon  entering 
the  society  a  member  swore  to  live  free  or  to  die,  to  remain  true  to 
the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  to  obey  the  laws,  and  to  work 
for  their  perfection. 

The  Right  also  tried  to  have  clubs  in  Paris;  but  the  populace 
gathered,  with  hootings  and  menaces,  around  their  places  of  reunion, 
and  they  were  obliged  to  renounce  them.  Counter-revolutionary 
pamphlets  circulated  freely  in  the  bookstores,  but  the  aristocrats 
could  nowhere  show  themselves  in  groups  in  Paris  without  exciting 
the  multitude  against  them. 

The  Jacobins  continued  to  increase.  They  were  then  led  chiefly 
by  three  deputies  to  the  National  Assembly,  —  Adrien  Duport,  a 
former  member  of  Parliament ;  the  eminent  orator,  Barnave ;  and 
Alexandre  de  Lameth,  grand  seigneur  of  Artois,  who  had  become  a 
revolutionist.  Several  of  the  most  considerable  men  of  the  Assem- 
bly, among  whom  were  Sieyes,  and  Le  Chapelier,  the  mayor  of 
Paris  and  the  general  of  the  national  guard,  —  Bailie  and]  La 
Fayette,  —  tried  to  rival  the  Jacobins  in  founding  the  Club  of  1789. 
Mirabeau  was  a  member  of  both  organizations  at  the  same  time. 
La  Fayette  made  some  efforts  to  induce  the  two  clubs  to  unite ;  he 
did  not  succeed. 

Sieyes,  Le  Chapelier,  Condorcet,  and  others  who  were  leagued 


134  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

with  them,  were  greater  theorists  and  greater  legislators  than  Du- 
port,  Barnave,  and  Lameth ;  but  they  were  not  so  active  nor  so 
ardent,  not  so  well  calculated  to  be  leaders  of  a  party.  The  Club 
of  1789  exercised  no  influence  whatever  upon  the  masses. 

This  club  had  been  an  attempt  at  a  more  moderate  organization 
than  that  of  the  Jacobins ;  other  clubs  were  formed  which  went 
even  beyond  the  Jacobins  in  bolder  and  more  dangerous  ideas,  in 
more  impassioned  forms.  Among  them  was  the  "Social  Circle," 
controlled  by  an  enthusiastic  priest,  the  Abbe  Fauchet,  very  popular 
for  having  pronounced  the  funeral  oration  over  the  patriotic  dead 
at  the  taking  of  the  Bastille.  Fauchet  preached  a  religious  phi- 
losophy which  was  a  confused  enough  mixture  of  Christianity  and 
Pantheism,  and  a  social  doctrine  which  tended  toward  a  sort  of 
community  founded  upon  the  mutual  love  of  men,  as  among  the 
early  Christians. 

The  Social  Circle,  where  appeared  philosophers  less  adventurous 
than  Fauchet,  —  Condorcet,  for  example, — had  a  moment  of  eclat; 
but  the  Jacobins  judged  that  occupying  people  in  social  Utopias 
would  have  a  tendency  to  turn  them  from  the  great  political  strug- 
gle, and  that  before  all  it  was  necessary  to  work  for  the  public 
safety.  This  body  opposed  the  Social  Circle,  whose  influence  was 
not  of  long  duration. 

The  Jacobins  were  on  good  terms  with  only  one  club,  the  cele- 
brated Cordeliers,  so  named  because  its  members  assembled  in  a 
chapel  of  the  Cordeliers  Convent,  to-day  the  Dupuytren  Museum, 
near  the  School  of  Medicine.  These  were  revolutionists  active  as 
the  Jacobins,  but  of  another  character.  The  Jacobins  were  politic, 
reflective,  disciplined,  manoeuvring  like  an  army.  The  Cordeliers 
were  tumultuous,  extravagant,  fantastic.  Each  among  them  said 
and  did  whatever  passed  through  his  head.  Here  were  witnessed 
the  most  singular  scenes  between  Marat,  Camille  Desmoulins,  and  a 
German,  the  Baron  de  Klootz,  who  had  taken  the  name  of  Anachar- 
sis,  a  philosopher  of  antiquity,  and  had  one  day,  as  an  ambassador 
of  the  human  race  who  was  organizing  the  states-general  of  the 
globe,  led  before  the  National  Assembly  a  mob  of  people  from  every 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  135 

country.  Here  also  were  seen  women ;  among  them  a  pretty  emi- 
grant from  Liege,  Mile.  Theroigne  de  Mericourt,  who,  on  the  oth  of 
October,  1789,  had  ridden  on  horseback,  sabre  in  hand,  at  the  head 
of  the  women  of  Paris.  A  man  powerful  in  his  influence  upon  the 
people,  and  very  practical  and  politic,  despite  his  passionate  vio- 
lence, Danton  took  all  this  seriously,  and  drew  down  upon  the  Cor- 
deliers days  of  terror,  fearful  blows  of  popular  anger. 

In  action,  Jacobins  and  Cordeliers  united  for  the  same  end,  but 
with  diverse  proceedings ;  their  dual  influence  equalized  itself  in 
Paris.  But  the  Cordeliers  were  only  a  Parisian  club ;  the  Jacobins 
were  an  association  which  day  by  day  was  extending  through  all 
France. 

The  patriotic  societies  forming  on  all  sides  affiliated  one  after  an- 
other with  the  Society  of  Paris.  In  a  short  time  one  hundred  and 
forty  towns  were  associated.  Later,  in  1792,  the  Jacobins  num- 
bered two  thousand  four  hundred  clubs  in  towns  and  villages.  All 
these  moved  as  one  man.  This  was  for  the  Ptevolution,  the  renewal 
of  what  the  League  had  been  for  the  Catholic  party  two  centuries 
before. 

Unhappily,  in  borrowing  for  the  conquest  of  the  future  the  means 
of  combat  the  party  of  the  past  had  formerly  employed,  the  Jaco- 
bins also  borrowed  far  too  much  of  the  spirit  of  the  past.  France 
had  not  with  impunity  been  for  centuries  subject  to  the  Catholic 
religion,  which  makes  persecution  against  dissenters  a  principle. 
Men  who  have  forsaken  the  creeds  of  the  medieval  ages  and  the 
Ancient  Eegime  still  retain  their  habits.  As  soon  as  they  pass 
from  books  and  theories  to  action,  they  allow  themselves  to  be 
easily  enticed  to  turn  against  their  adversaries  the  arbitrary  and 
oppressive  practices  habitual  to  monarchy  and  to  the  church ;  and 
these  men  violated  the  principles  of  1789,  to  assure  the  conquest 
of  1789. 

The  Jacobins,  little  by  little,  assumed  an  inquisitorial  and  im- 
placable spirit,  far  removed  from  the  primitive  sentiments  of  the 
Revolution.  They  went  far  beyond  the  rights  and  necessities  of 
defence ;  and  if  they  opposed  a  powerful  barrier  to  the  real  enemies 


136  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

of  the  Revolution,  on  the  other  hand  they  made  the  Revolution  many 
new  enemies  by  disquieting  and  tormenting  a  large  number  of  people 
who  would  at  least  have  remained  neutral  if  they  had  been  let  alone. 

The  first  leaders  of  the  Jacobins  did  not  in  truth  represent  that 
harsh,  rigid,  and  sombre  character  this  powerful  organization  was 
soon  to  assume.  Duport,  Barnave,  and  the  brothers  Lameth  were 
men  of  action  and  of  cabals,  who  in  order  to  increase  their  means 
of  action  allied  themselves  to  the  intriguing  people  surrounding 
the  rich  Duke  of  Orleans.  They  confided  the  direction  of  the  Jac- 
obin Journal,  founded  in  October,  1790,  to  Laclos,  the  most  active 
of  the  duke's  associates,  an  able,  corrupt,  and  dangerous  man,  known 
before  the  Revolution  as  the  author  of  an  immoral  romance.  The 
eldest  son  of  the  duke,  since  Louis  Philippe,  still  very  young,  was 
received  among  the  Jacobins,  and  became  an  officer  of  the  asso- 
ciation. 

Duport,  Barnave,  and  the  Lameths  did  not  think  of  overthrowing 
royalty,  but  of  subordinating  it  to  the  Assembly,  either  retaining 
Louis  XVI.,  or,  as  a  go-between,  substituting  for  him  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  if  the  people  could  not  accommodate  themselves  with 
Louis  XVI. 

The  idea  of  a  republic  began  to  be  placed  in  the  foreground  by  a 
few  writers,  by  Camille  Desmoulins,  by  Brissot,  who  was  playing 
an  important  role  in  the  municipality  of  Paris  with  his  widely 
circulated  journal,  Les  Revolutions  des  Paris ;  but  the  majority  of 
the  Jacobins  had  not  gone  so  far,  and  outside  the  Jacobins,  not 
even  Marat ! 

Robespierre,  who  began  to  be  of  more  account  in  the  National 
Assembly,  was  of  great  account  with  the  Jacobins.  This  man, 
still  young,  who  had  neither  the  good  qualities  nor  the  defects  of 
youth,  this  grave,  patient,  suspicious,  and  inflexible  man,  absolute 
in  his  ideas,  who  by  his  disinterestedness  and  his  proud,  dignified 
poverty  commanded  the  respect  of  the  masses,  far  better  repre- 
sented the  true  principle  of  the  Jacobins  than  their  actual  chiefs, 
and  the  latter  saw  with  disquietude  his  growing  authority  in  their 
order. 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  137 

The  Jacobins,  at  first  composed  only  of  affluent  and  lettered  per- 
sons, had  founded  fraternal  societies  to  instruct  and  aid  workmen, 
their  wives  and  children.  The  counter-revolutionary  party  tried 
anew  to  imitate  the  Jacobins.  It  founded  a  central  society,  called 
the  Monarchical  Club,  with  provincial  affiliations.  It  distributed 
loaves  of  bread  to  the  poor.  The  Jacobins  in  Paris  and  in  the  prov- 
inces incited  the  people  against  these  monarchical  clubs.  The 
municipality  closed  the  Central  Club  on  account  of  the  disturbances 
it  had  occasioned. 

This  was  no  longer  the  rule  of  liberty ;  it  was  that  of  civil  war 
(October,  1790,  to  January,  1791). 

The  religious  agitations  increased,  and  aggravated  the  political 
crisis.  Louis  XVI.,  after  some  weeks'  delay,  had  sanctioned,  more 
reluctantly  than  any  other  decree  of  the  Assembly,  the  civil  consti- 
tution of  the  clergy  (August  24,  1790).  He  had  secretly  excused 
himself  to  Pope  Pius  VI.  for  not  having  awaited  his  authorization, 
and  he  had  tried  to  obtain  his  consent  after  the  deed  was  done. 
The  Pope,  who  still  hoped  that  the  Assembly  would  not  reunite  his 
city  of  Avignon  to  France,  had  until  now  made  no  public  manifesto, 
but  had  signified  to  Louis  XVI.  individually,  that  if  the  king  could 
renounce  the  rights  of  his  crown,  the  Pope  could  not  upon  any 
consideration  sacrifice  the  rights  of  the  church,  of  which  the  king 
of  France  was  the  eldest  son.  This  was,  Pius  VI.  admonished  him, 
to  hazard  his  eternal  safety  and  that  of  his  people.  Pius  VI. 
added  that,  before  pronouncing  in  an  affair  so  important  to  religion, 
he  wished  to  know  the  sentiments  of  the  clergy  of  France. 

This  set  a  climax  to  the  anxieties  of  the  timorous  Louis  XVI. 

At  the  end  of  October  the  bishops,  members  of  the  National  As- 
sembly, published  "An  Expose  of  Principles,"  to  which  almost  all  the 
bishops  of  France  adhered.  Here  they  protested  against  the  decrees 
of  the  Assembly  relative  to  the  church,  the  suppression  of  convents, 
the  sale  of  the  church  property,  the  changes  in  the  limits  of  dioceses, 
the  election  of  bishops  and  curates  by  the  people  against  all  its 
decrees.  They  sent  secret  instructions  to  their  dioceses,  inciting 
the  ecclesiastics  to  resistance,  and  announced  their  intention  to 


138  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

submit  to  no  change  in  the  hierarchy  and  the  discipline  of  the 
church,  without  the  consent  of  the  Pope. 

The  curates  and  vicars,  a  majority  of  whom  were  favorable  to  the 
Revolution,  and  who  had  only  gained  by  the  sale  of  the  estates  of 
the  clergy,  had  begun  to  remonstrate  when  the  Assembly  touched 
upon  ecclesiastic  limitations,  when  it  refused  to  declare  the  Catholic 
faith  the  religion  of  the  state,  and  decided  upon  the  election  of 
ministers  of  the  church  by  the  people.  A  large  portion  of  the 
clergy  again  fell  under  the  control  of  the  bishops,  and  placed  the 
pulpit  and  the  confessional  at  the  service  of  the  counter-revolution. 
The  clergy  preached  against  the  assignats,  incited  their  people  to 
refuse  payment  of  taxes,  exasperated  them  against  the  Assembly, 
and  declared  that  the  purchasers  of  the  national  estates  were 
damned,  they  and  all  their  posterity. 

The  clerical  league  was  denounced  to  the  Assembly  by  the  com- 
mittee having  charge  of  national  affairs.  The  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee demanded  rigorous  measures  against  the  refractory  clergy. 
These  were  not  the  most  advanced  revolutionists  or  the  most 
violent  deputies  and  journalists,  Eobespierre,  Camille  Desmoulins, 
nor  even  Marat,  who  urged  extreme  measures  in  this  case ;  it 
was  some  Jansenist  deputies,  such  as  Comus  and  the  Jacobin 
leaders,  Barnave,  Duport,  and  Lameth,  who  felt  themselves  distanced 
by  the  democratic  movement  in  their  club,  and  who  wished  to  win 
popularity  at  the  expense  of  the  clergy. 

Mirabeau  pronounced  a  very  violent  discourse  against  the  bishops 
who  pretended  that  religion  was  lost  because  the  people  were  to 
elect  their  successors,  while  they  themselves  did  not  scruple  to  owe 
their  nomination  to  the  intrigues  of  a  corrupt  court.  He  concluded 
by  proposing  that  every  bishop  who  demanded  investiture  of  the 
Pope,  or  who  refused  to  confirm  the  curates  elected  by  the  people, 
be  declared  to  have  forfeited  his  rights;  that  they  withdraw  the 
salary,  not  from  all  ecclesiastic  dissenters,  but  from  those  who  had 
protested  against  the  decrees  of  the  Assembly ;  that  they  prosecute 
for  the  crime  of  lese  nation  every  ecclesiastic  who  in  the  exercise 
of  his  functions  should  attack  the  laws  and  the  Eevolution ;  finally, 


1790.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  139 

that  they  declare  no  one  empowered  to  exercise  the  office  of  the 
confessional,  without  having  taken  the  civic  oath. 

In  the  irritable  state  of  the  Assembly,  Mirabeau's  propositions, 
save  that  in  regard  to  the  confessional,  were  the  most  moderate 
possible.  The  Assembly  went  further.  Without  heeding  the  vio- 
lent protest  of  the  orator  for  the  clergy,  the  Abbe  Mauri,  it  decreed 
that  all  acting  ecclesiastics  should  take  the  civic  oath  after  a  brief 
delay ;  that  those  who  were  members  of  the  Assembly  should  take 
it  within  eight  days  from  the  publication  of  the  decree ;  that  all 
those  who  refused  should  be  considered  as  dismissed  ;  that  all  those 
who,  after  having  taken  the  oath,  secretly  disobeyed  it,  should  be 
treated  as  rebels,  as  also  those  who  assumed  to  continue  their  func- 
tions without  having  taken  the  oath  (November  27). 

The  Revolution  had  unhappily  borrowed  from  the  Ancient  Regime 
that  formality  of  the  oath  of  which  primitive  Christianity  disap- 
proved, which  philosophy  disapproves,  and  from  which  recent  calam- 
ities have  not  quite  liberated  France.  Worship  remaining  a  public 
function,  the  Assembly  was  logically  forced  to  impose  the  oath  upon 
ministers  of  worship  as  well  as  upon  other  functionaries ;  but  here 
the  consequences  were  to  be  terrible.  To  the  enemies  of  the  Revo- 
lution there  was  now  given  a  more  redoubtable  weapon  than  any 
which  they  had  hitherto  used  against  it 

The  king,  meantime,  much  troubled  and  much  frightened,  made  a 
second  attempt  to  induce  the  Pope  to  ratify  the  new  limitation  of 
dioceses  and  the  new  system  of  elections.  A  prelate,  respectable 
and  prudent,  the  Archbishop  of  Aix,  and  a  few  others  of  his  col- 
leagues, who  like  him  dreaded  the  extremities  into  which  they  were 
rushing,  seconded  the  efforts  of  the  king.  But  the  majority  of  the 
bishops,  in  concert  with  the  emigrants,  dissuaded  the  Pope  from 
consenting  to  any  arrangement 

Most  of  the  bishops  acted  far  less  from  religious  principle  than 
from  party  spirit  and  the  hope  of  a  counter-revolution.  It  was  the 
same  among  the  laity  of  the  ancient  privileged  classes,  or,  as  a  con- 
temporary royalist  writer  says,  "Men  the  most  free  in  their  religious 
opinions,  women  the  most  disreputable  in  their  morals,  became  all 


UO  THE   FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

at  once  ardent  missionaries  of  the  purity  and  integrity  of  the 
Roman  faith."  But  below  these  insincere  prelates,  these  sceptics 
of  the  higher  classes,  was  the  humbler  clergy,  whom  the  bishops 
taught  that  it  would  be  disgraceful  to  betray  religion  and  submit 
the  church  to  the  laity.  And  there  was  also  a  multitude  of  devoted 
women,  and  that  very  numerous  portion  of  the  people  accustomed  to 
yield  to  the  influence  of  priests.  Hence  was  chiefly  to  arise  the 
party  of  the  counter-revolution. 

Louis  XVL  for  a  whole  month  delayed  sanction  to  the  decree. 
The  Assembly,  urged  on  by  the  Jansenite  Comus  most  of  all,  imperi- 
ously importuned  the  king,  and  at  the  same  time,  with  great  ap- 
plause, hoisted  the  philosophical  flag  in  face  of  the  clergy.  The 
Assembly  decreed  to  the  author  of  Emtte  and  the  "Social  Contract" 
a  statue  bearing  this  inscription:  THE  FKEE  FEENCH  NATION  TO 
JEAN  JACQUES  ROUSSEAU  (December  23). 

Rousseau  still  awaits  the  statue  the  Revolution  promised  him  in 
Paris. 

Some  hundreds  of  men  raised  an  uproar  under  the  king's  win- 
dows, and  demanded  his  sanction  to  the  decree  concerning  the  oath. 
The  court  had  awaited  this  little  insurrection  so  as  to  be  able  to  say 
the  king  had  yielded  only  to  force.  Louis  XVL  sent  his  sanction, 
protesting  against  the  suspicions  the  Assembly  had  cherished  as  to 
his  intentions,  and  demanding  from  that  body  "  the  confidence  he 
deserved." 

The  king  having  sanctioned  the  decree  of  December  27,  the  delay 
of  eight  days  assigned  to  the  ecclesiastic  members  of  the  Assembly 
expired  January  4, 1791.  The  patriotic  party  had  even  yet  strength 
among  the  deputies  of  the  clergy.  Sixty-three  of  them,  the  curate 
Gregoire  at  their  head,  anticipated  the  day  fixed  for  swearing  fidelity 
to  the  new  laws. 

January  4,  twenty-nine  bishops  and  the  majority  of  the  priestly 
deputies  refused  to  take  the  oath.  In  their  refusal,  most  of  the 
bishops  showed  a  becoming  dignity ;  two  or  three  made  an  impres- 
sion by  their  simple  and  sincere  words.  The  session  had  a  bad 
effect  upon  the  revolutionary  cause.  The  most  clairvoyant  men  felt 


1791.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  Ml 

that  those  who  had  so  long  been  persecutors  were  about  to  claim 
the  honor  of  being  persecuted. 

The  majority  of  the  Parisian  curates  refused  to  take  the  oath. 
An  archbishop,  formerly  the  cardinal-minister  Brienne,  and  three 
bishops,  Talleyrand,  Bishop  of  Autun,  among  them,  swore.  More 
than  one  hundred  refused,  at  the  same  time  pretending  to  retain 
their  functions.  They  declared  null  the  acts  of  whosoever  should 
dare  take  their  places,  and  excommunicated  the  sworn  priests  and 
the  faithful  who  should  communicate  with  them.  The  Pope,  who 
until  now  had  abstained  from  all  public  manifestation,  launched 
forth  a  letter,  declaring  that  the  National  Assembly  had  gone  be- 
yond its  powers,  and  that  all  those  who  had  taken  or  should  take 
the  oath  were  schismatics. 

The  mob  burned  the  letter  at  the  Palace  Eoyal  with  a  manikin 
representing  the  Pope.  The  revolutionary  authorities  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  the  Pope's  words,  and  proceeded  to  elect  bishops  and  curates 
to  replace  those  who  disobeyed  the  new  laws.  A  strong  minority 
of  the  lower  clergy  remained  on  the  side  of  the  Revolution,  and 
accepted  the  functions  conferred  upon  them  by  the  people.  There 
was  discord  in  the  provinces,  in  parishes,  in  families.  In  some 
places  the  people  drove  away  the  "refractory  "  priests;  in  others,  the 
rustics  left  the  consenting  priests,  whom  they  called  intruders,  alone 
in  the  churches.  Religious  troubles  had  begun,  and  were  to  end 
only  in  a  great  civil  war. 

The  bishops  finally  succeeded  in  turning  the  greater  portion  of 
the  lower  clergy  against  the  Revolution. 

As  the  general  situation  grew  more  threatening,  Mirabeau's  dream 
of  placing  the  king  at  the  head  of  the  Revolution  became  less  and 
less  capable  of  realization.  Mirabeau  had  had  a  secret  interview 
with  the  queen  at  Saint  Cloud  in  1790 ;  he  continued  to  receive 
money  from  the  court,  and  to  send  notes  and  advice  to  the  king  and 
queen.  He  proposed  to  them  all  sorts  of  plans  to  undermine  the 
authority  and  popularity  of  the  Assembly,  and  to  oblige  it  to  dis- 
solve. These  petty  resorts,  these  small  perfidies,  were  as  little 
worthy  of  his  genius  as  of  his  natural  generosity.  His  end  was  not 


142  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

counter-revolution,  it  was  far  less  foreign  intervention ;  he  desired 
the  formation  of  a  second  Assembly,  which  he  hoped  to  lead  to 
concessions  to  the  royal  power. 

In  reality,  he  could  do  almost  nothing  in  this  direction.  Once 
before  the  Assembly,  provoked,  insulted  by  the  Right,  he  became 
himself  again,  and  began  to  strike  new  blows  for  the  Revolution. 
It  was  only  upon  rare  occasions  that  he  opposed  the  Left,  and  then 
with  reason. 

He  had  not,  as  he  believed,  won  the  confidence  of  the  court. 
Neither  Louis  XVI.  nor  Marie  Antoinette  were  sincere  with  him. 
Louis  XVI.,  very  fluctuating,  and  very  undecided  after  those  Octo- 
ber days,  was,  from  devout  scruples,  irrevocably  alienated  from  the 
Assembly  when  he  had  ceased  to  hope  that  the  Pope  could  make  an 
arrangement  with  it  in  regard  to  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy. 
He  fell  entirely  into  the  hands  of  the  queen,  who  was  dreaming 
only  of  counter-revolution.  Marie  Antoinette  listened  to  Mirabeau, 
cajoled  or  submitted  to  La  Fayette,  tried  to  negotiate  secretly  even 
with  Barnave  and  the  Lameths,  but  deceived  them  all,  and  detested 
them  all,  as  she  had  detested  Necker  himself.  Her  sole  idea  was  to 
carry  away  the  king  to  the  frontier,  to  rejoin  General  Bouille,  and 
there  call  for  aid  upon  her  brother,  the  Emperor  Leopold,  and  other 
foreign  princes. 

Since  October,  1790,  Louis  XVI.  had  been  in  secret  correspond- 
ence with  Bouille  for  this  end ;  but  he  had  written  to  his  relative 
and  ally,  the  king  of  Spain,  to  forewarn  him  not  to  take  any  account 
of  the  public  acts  which  were  imposed  upon  him,  and  to  claim  his 
assistance.  The  king  of  Spain  replied  that  he  would  aid  Louis 
XVI.  with  his  forces,  if  the  Emperor  Leopold,  the  king  of  Sardinia, 
and  the  Swiss  cantons  would  do  the  same.  Marie  Antoinette  urged 
her  brother,  the  Emperor,  to  prepare  to  intervene. 

Lent  redoubled  the  religious  agitations.  The  king's  aunts,  daugh- 
ters of  Louis.  XV.,  not  wishing  to  have  relations  with  the  priests 
sworn  for  the  Parisian  parishes,  departed  to  receive  the  Easter  sac- 
raments at  Rome.  This  caused  great  excitement  in  Paris.  Here, 
it  was  thought,  was  a  presage  of  the  king's  departure.  The  same 


1791.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  143 

impression  reached  the  provinces.  The  municipality  of  Arnai-le- 
Duc  arrested  Mesdames  Aunts,  as  they  were  called,  and  awaited 
orders  from  the  Assembly.  Mirabeau,  after  an  excited  debate,  in- 
duced the  Assembly  to  vote  that  no  law  could  oppose  the  departure 
of  the  Mesdames.  This  was  true ;  but  it  was  also  true  that  if  the 
law  had  no  right  to  retain  against  their  will  two  women  who  loved 
better  to  hear  the  mass  in  Koine  than  in  Paris,  it  was  not  obliged  to 
continue  to  them  in  Rome  the  income  of  a  million,  which  France 
gave  them  in  Paris  (February  4,  1791). 

The  furious  clamors  of  Marat  incited  a  riot  in  the  garden  of  the 
Tuileries,  and  La  Fayette  was  obliged  to  mount  the  cannon.  Hap- 
pily, this  demonstration  sufficed;  but  the  excitement  continued 
under  another  form,  and  from  all  sides  a  law  against  emigration  was 
demanded.  The  draft  of  such  a  law  was  in  fact  presented  on  the 
28th  of  February. 

If  it  is  legitimate  to  take  precautionary  measures  in  regard  to 
people  who  leave  their  native  land  to  conspire  against  it  on  foreign 
soil,  it  is  not  so  to  forbid  people  in  general  leaving  the  frontier. 
One's  country  ought  not  to  be  a  prison.  A  portion  of  the  most 
advanced  revolutionists  felt  this.  If  the  Lameths  and  their  friends, 
through  scheming  for  popularity,  and  Camille  Desmoulins  and 
Marat,  through  passion,  were  for  the  passage  of  this  law,  Eobespierre 
declared  against  it,  and  Brissot  fought  it  energetically  in  his  journal, 
"  The  French  Patriot."  Mirabeau  carried  the  vote  by  words  such 
as  he  knew  how  to  speak  The  project  was  abandoned. 

During  this  session  very  grave  events  were  taking  place  in  Paris. 
A  report  had  spread  among  the  people  that,  at  the  palace  of  Vin- 
cennes,  fortifications  menacing  Paris  were  in  process  of  construction, 
and  that  it  was  designed  to  erect  a  new  Bastille.  The  Faubourg 
Saint- Antoine  threw  itself  upon  Vincennes  to  demolish  it.  La  Fay- 
ette hastened  there  with  the  national  guard,  and  put  down  the  riot. 
But  while  he  was  at  Vincennes  several  hundred  gentlemen,  with 
concealed  weapons,  pistols  and  poniards,  introduced  themselves 
into  the  Tuileries,  to  defend  the  king,  they  said,  whose  life  was 
menaced.  Their  design  was  probably  to  make  him  leave  Paris 


144  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

in  the  night,  and  to  place  him  on  the  route  to  Metz,  to  rejoin 
Bouille. 

La  Fayette  returned  from  Vincennes  sooner  than  was  expected. 
Advised  of  what  was  going  on  at  the  Tuileries,  he  placed  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  national  guards  and  hastened  thither.  The  national 
guards  disarmed  and  maltreated  the  gentlemen.  The  king  implored 
La  Fayette  to  let  them  leave  the  palace,  which  favor  the  general  ob- 
tained only  with  great  difficulty  from  his  enraged  soldiers. 

All  this  made  great  commotion  in  Paris.  The  populace  called 
these  royalist  gentlemen  "  Chevaliers  of  the  Poniard." 

The  Jacobins  had,  this  same  evening,  a  stormy  session.  Mira- 
beau,  supposing  that  his  rivals  were  going  to  excite  the  Jacobins 
against  him  on  account  of  the  emigration  affair,  had  courageously 
gone  directly  to  the  club.  Received  at  first  with  murmurs,  he  spoke 
with  so  much  eloquence  and  ability,  that  in  spite  of  the  passionate 
accusations  of  Duport  and  Alexandre  de  Lameth,  when  he  said  to 
the  Jacobins,  "  I  shall  remain  among  you  until  you  banish  me ! " 
the  whole  club  broke  out  into  applause. 

He  left  triumphant  but  exhausted.  This  was  to  be  his  last 
triumph.  This  man,  so  strong,  so  powerfully  organized,  was  pro- 
foundly stricken,  both  in  body  and  soul.  He  perceived  his  dream 
of  democratic  monarchy  escaping  him.  He  suffered  from  his  equiv- 
ocal role,  and  assuaged  and  at  the  same  time  destroyed  himself  by 
the  double  excess  of  labor  and  pleasure.  Ill,  panting,  he  changed 
none  of  his  habits.  During  the  whole  month  of  March,  as  his 
strength  diminished,  he  redoubled  his  consuming  activity.  March 
27,  he  spoke  five  times  in  succession  before  the  Assembly  upon  a 
question  involving  the  fortune  of  one  of  his  friends.  Upon  leaving, 
he  said  to  him,  "  Your  cause  is  gained,  and,  as  for  me,  I  am  a  dead 
man." 

The  next  day  he  lay  down  upon  his  bed,  and  never  rose  from  it 
again.  Anxiety  was  extreme  and  universal.  All  Paris  surged  to 
the  house  of  the  renowned  invalid.  The  love  of  the  people  for  him 
had  revived.  Mirabeau  heard  from  his  bed  the  movement  of  the 
throng  beneath  his  windows.  "  This  is  a  good  people,"  he  said.  "I 


1791.]  THE  DEATH  OF  MIRABEAU.  145 

feel  it  sweet  to  die  in  their  midst."  He  no  longer  spoke  of  aught 
save  friendship  and  country.  His  moral  delinquencies  were  effaced 
as  he  neared  the  tomb :  that  which  was  great  in  him  alone  endured. 
He  was  preoccupied  with  the  perils  of  France  and  of  liberty.  He 
was  disquieted  about  England ;  he  believed  that  he  saw  there  dan- 
gerous coalitions  in  the  future.  "  That  Pitt,"  said  he, "  if  I  had  lived 
I  would  have  caused  him  trouble." 

Not  that  he  was  hostile  to  England.  He  wished,  on  the  contrary, 
a  fraternal  alliance  between  her  and  the  French  people. 

"  I  bear  away  with  me,"  he  said,  on  the  other  hand,  "  the  funeral 
of  the  monarchy;  its  remains  will  become  the  prey  of  the  fac- 
tions." 

On  the  morning  of  April  2  he  said  in  a  firm  voice  to  his  physi- 
cian, the  philosopher  Cabanis,  "My  friend,  I  shall  die  to-day." 
He  spoke  a  few  more  words,  which  seemed,  some  incredulous,  others 
those  of  a  soul  which  rises  to  God  Like  so  many  others  of  his 
contemporaries,  he  was  wavering  in  regard  to  things  of  the  higher 
world.  At  half  past  eight  he  expired. 

He  left,  as  a  dying  legacy,  two  great  discourses,  written  but  not 
delivered :  the  one  upon  the  law  of  primogeniture  and  entail,  the 
other  upon  the  marriage  of  priests. 

At  tidings  of  his  death,  Paris  and  the  Assembly  were  paralyzed. 
Every  one  in  the  Assembly  gazed  in  silence  at  the  vacant  place, 
where  would  no  more  appear  the  man  who  had  renewed  in  France 
the  grand  political  eloquence  of  Greece  and  Eome. 

There  were  rumors  of  poison.  The  public  would  not  believe  that 
this  strong  man  had  been  laid  low  by  disease  at  the  age  of  forty- 
two.  His  physician,  Cabanis,  declared  the  cause  of  his  death  an 
inflammation  brought  on  by  excessive  anxiety  and  fatigue. 

The  departmental  directory  and  the  municipality  of  Paris  put  on 
mourning.  The  forty-eight  sections  of  Paris  demanded  a  public 
funeral  The  National  Assembly  declared  the  new  church  of  Sainte- 
Genevieve  consecrated  to  the  sepulture  of  great  men.  It  also  de- 
creed that  upon  its  front  this  inscription  be  engraved,  "  The  Grate- 
ful Country  to  her  Great  Men"  and  that  the  remains  of  Mirabeau 
10 


146  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VI. 

be  the  first  deposited  in  the  new  mausoleum.  The  vote  was  unani- 
mous, save  three  dissenting  voices  on  the  Right. 

That  same  evening,  April  4,  an  immense  cortege  conducted  the 
remains  of  the  immortal  orator  to  Sainte-Genevieve,  now  trans- 
formed into  a  Pantheon,  a  temple  of  the  illustrious  dead.  La  Fay- 
ette,  with  a  deputation  of  the  national  guard,  led  the  procession. 
The  entire  Assembly  followed ;  then  came  the  Society  of  Friends 
of  the  Constitution,  that  is  to  say,  the  Jacobins,  to  the  number  of 
eighteen  hundred,  taking  precedence  of  the  ministers,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  department,  and  the  municipality,  the  judges,  and  all 
other  dignitaries. 

This  redoubtable  society  assumed  its  position  as  the  second  body 
in  the  state. 

An  innumerable  throng  of  people  followed  and  pressed  around 
the  procession,  which  defiled  through  the  streets  until  midnight, 
amid  funereal  chants  composed  by  the  musician  Gossec,  and  to  the 
sound  of  strange  and  terrible  instruments  heard  for  the  first  time  in 
France,  —  the  trombone  and  the  tamtam.  In  modern  history  there 
is  no  recollection  of  such  funeral  rites. 

Marat  broke  out  into  furious  clamors  against  the  honors  ren- 
dered to  Mirabeau.  He  protested  against  the  affront  the  people 
would  do  him,  should  they  seek  one  day  to  bear  his  remains  to 
Sainte-Genevieve  in  such  company. 

Two  years  and  a  half  after,  another  National  Assembly,  the  Con- 
vention, upon  discovering  the  secret  relations  of  Mirabeau  to  the 
court,  had  his  body  taken  from  the  Pantheon,  and  placed  there  the 
body  of  Marat !  Mirabeau's  remains  rest  obscurely  in  the  ancient 
cemetery  of  Sainte-Catherine,  near  the  cemetery  of  Clamart,  in  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Marceau. 

Posterity  would  perform  an  act  of  patriotic  piety  in  rendering  to 
the  great  orator  a  more  honorable  sepulture.  France  should  grant 
an  amnesty  to  his  remembrance.  His  services  are  far  above  his 
faults,  and  in  his  worst  days  and  amid  his  most  culpable  weaknesses, 
he  never  really  wished  to  betray  liberty  or  country. 


1791.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  147 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE     CONSTITUENT     ASSEMBLY     (continued).  —  THE     JOURNEY     FROM 

VARENNES. 

April  to  June,  1791. 

rTlHE  approach  of  Easter  redoubled  the  agitation  caused  by  the 
_L_  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy.  A  letter  from  the  Pope,  of  the 
10th  of  March,  suspended  from  their  functions  all  the  sworn  priests 
who  did  not  retract  their  oath  within  forty  days. 

Everywhere  refractory  bishops  and  priests  endeavored  to  excite 
the  populace  against  the  constitutional  and  sworn  clergy.  They 
preached  that  the  sacraments  administered  by  the  sworn  clergy 
were  void ;  that  all  who  communicated  with  this  clergy  would  be 
damned,  they  and  their  posterity. 

Troubles  had  broken  out  at  several  points.  The  Cardinal  de 
Rohan,  that  prodigal  and  debauched  prelate  whom  the  Necklace 
Trial  had  rendered  famous,  now  constituted  himself  the  champion 
of  the  faith,  excommunicated  his  successor,  the  constitutional  bishop 
of  Strasburg,  and  incited  seditions  in  Alsace.  In  Brittany  the 
refractory  clergy  had  stirred  up  some  thousands  of  peasants  to 
revolt.  They  were  routed  by  the  national  guards  of  Vannes  and 
Lorient  (February,  1791). 

The  Assembly  and  the  new  authorities  had  at  first  treated  the 
refractory  clergy  very  gently.  Its  members,  although  deprived  of 
their  functions,  retained  their  salaries,  and  freely  practised  their 
worship  in  churches  near  by  those  of  the  official  worship.  The 
decree  forbidding  refractory  priests  the  office  of  confession  was  not 
enforced.  The  directors  of  departments  began  to  take  restrictive 
measures,  and  to  forbid  refractory  priests  saying  mass  without 
permission  of  the  bishops  and  constitutional  curates.  Intolerance 


148  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

responded  to  intolerance.  Odious  and  shameful  excesses  were  com- 
mitted in  Paris  by  tumultuous  bands  against  women  who  persisted 
in  going  to  a  church  where  the  worship  was  conducted  by  a  refrac- 
tory priest.  Meanwhile  several  of  the  most  ardent  journals  had 
not  approved  the  intolerant  measures  of  the  directory  of  the 
Seine. 

Louis  XVI.,  after  many  hesitations,  had  his  Easter  services  pub- 
licly performed  in  the  chapel  of  the  Tuileries  by  a  refractory  priest 
(April  17).  This  produced  a  terrible  effect  in  Paris.  ISTews-hawkers 
cried  through  the  streets,  "The  grand  treason  of  the  king  of  the 
French ! "  The  district  of  the  Cordeliers,  where  Danton  and  his 
friends  were  masters,  by  a  placard  denounced  to  the  French  people 
"  the  first  public  functionary  as  a  rebel  to  the  laws  he  had  sworn  to 
keep." 

On  the  morning  of  the  next  day  several  carriages,  bearing  the 
king,  the  queen,  their  children  and  whole  retinue,  left  the  Tuileries 
for  Saint  Cloud.  It  had  been  announced  that  the  king  wished  to 
make  some  sojourn  here ;  but  the  people  were  persuaded,  and  with 
reason,  that  from  Saint  Cloud  the  king  would  go  to  the  frontier.  An 
immense  crowd  arrested  the  carriages.  La  Fayette  wished  to  make 
the  mob  open  a  passage.  The  national  guard  as  well  as  the  people 
cried  out  that  the  king  should  not  depart. 

La  Fayette  hastened  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  demand  an  order  for 
applying  martial  law,  and  for  raising  against  the  riot  the  red  flag,  — 
a  sign  of  public  peril  and  a  resort  to  force.  Danton,  a  member  of 
the  directory  of  the  department,  prevented  the  raising  of  the  red 
flag,  and  a  member  of  the  municipality  went  to  implore  the  king  to 
return.  He  yielded.  It  was  thus  proven  that  the  king  was  not 
free.  This  was  what  the  court  wished,  so  as  to  deprive  of  their 
legal  value  ttie  constitutional  acts  of  Louis  XVI. 

The  following  day,  April  19,  the  king  went  to  the  Assembly,  and 
declared  that  he  had  not  wished  to  employ  force  to  assure  his 
departure,  but  that  he  should  persist  in  his  journey  to  Saint  Cloud, 
so  that  the  nation  could  see  he  was  free.  "The  civil  constitu- 
tion of  the  clergy,"  said  he,  "  is  a  part  of  the  Constitution  I  have 


1791.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  149 

sworn  to  maintain.  I  shall  maintain  its  execution  with  all  my 
ability." 

The  Assembly  received  with  apparent  confidence  the  declarations 
of  the  king ;  but  the  forty-eight  sections  of  Paris,  now  convoked, 
refused  at  the  same  time  to  implore  the  king  to  go  to  Saint  Cloud, 
and  to  thank  him  for  not  having  gone.  There  were  rough  words 
as  to  the  king's  sincerity.  "  It  is  weakness  which  deceives,"  said 
Camille  Desmoulins,  reviewing  the  debate  in  his  journal  "  The 
people  must  not  lie  to  the  king." 

Weakness,  in  fact,  led  the  unhappy  Louis  XVI.  into  falsehood : 
he  had  been  born  honest  and  upright. 

He  was  guilty  of  an  act  worse  than  his  declaration  of  April  19 
before  the  Assembly.  April  23,  Montmarin,  his  minister  of  for- 
eign affairs,  communicated  to  the  Assembly  a  letter  addressed  by 
the  king  to  French  ambassadors  at  foreign  courts.  Here  he  vaunted 
the  Revolution,  the  Constitution,  the  sovereign  nation;  and  here 
he  denied  that  atrocious  calumny,  the  supposition  that  the  king 
was  not  free.  Here,  also,  the  French  ambassadors  were  charged 
to  thwart  the  intrigues  and  projects  of  emigrants. 

This  official  document  was  followed  almost  immediately  by  secret 
despatches,  which  forewarned  the  king  of  Prussia  and  the  regent  of 
Belgium,  sister  of  the  emperor  and  of  Marie  Antoinette,  that  every 
sanction  given  by  Louis  XVI.  to  the  decrees  of  the  Assembly  should 
be  reputed  null. 

La  Fayette,  having  been  disobeyed  by  the  national  guard,  a 
second  time  sent  in  his  resignation,  as  he  had  done  after  the  murder 
of  Foulon  and  Berthier.  As  before,  the  national  guard  and  the 
municipality  implored  him  to  retain  the  command.  They  caused 
to  be  circulated,  in  the  sixty  Parisian  battalions,  a  resolution,  in 
which  every  citizen  soldier  was  to  swear  upon  his  honor,  and  bind 
himself  by  his  signature,  to  obey  the  law ;  those  who  should  refuse 
were  to  be  expelled  from  the  national  guard.  This  resolution  was 
taken  to  La  Fayette  by  delegates  from  the  battalions,  and  he  con- 
sented to  resume  his  functions. 

This  incident  excited  much  irritation  among  the  men  of  ardent 


150  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

opinions.  The  journals  clamored  violently,  and  pretended  that 
there  was  being  imposed  upon  the  national  guards,  under  pain  of 
expulsion,  an  engagement  of  absolute  obedience  to  La  Fayette. 
This  caused  division  in  the  national  guard  itself. 

April  28  the  Assembly  made  an  important  decision  relative  to 
the  national  guard.  In  spite  of  Robespierre's  opposition,  it  decreed 
that  this  body  should  be  composed  only  of  "  active  citizens,"  that 
is  to  say,  of  citizens  who,  paying  the  direct  impost,  had  a  right 
to  vote  in  the  primary  assemblies.  In  Paris,  the  national  guard, 
composed  of  only  thirty  thousand  men,  did  not  comprise  all  the 
active  citizens.  But  in  many  localities  every  man,  with  or  without 
uniform,  was  enrolled  in  the  civil  militia.  Instead  of  dividing  the 
nation  into  two  classes,  it  would  have  been  better  to  decree  that 
the  poorest  citizens  should  be  excused  from  active  service,  while 
remaining  enrolled. 

Robespierre  had  more  success  upon  another  important  occasion. 
April  7  he  procured  the  passage  of  a  decree  that  no  member  of  the 
Assembly  could  be  made  a  minister  during  the  four  years  following 
this  session.  He  had  thus  repeated  against  the  actual  chiefs  of  the 
Left  what  Duport,  Barnave,  and  the  Lameths  had  done  against 
Mirabeau. 

May  15  he  proposed  that  no  member  of  the  present  Assembly 
should  be  re-elected  to  the  next  Assembly.  The  Right  supported 
him,  so  as  to  prevent  the  Constitution  being  confirmed  by  its  found- 
ers. The  greater  portion  of  the  Left  approved,  through  lassitude  or 
disinterestedness.  Many  wished  to  repose  from  their  prodigious 
labors;  others,  more  obscure,  saw  little  chance  of  re-election.  The 
leaders  of  the  majority,  abandoned  by  their  forces,  could  not  resist. 
The  Assembly  passed  the  decree  which  would  cause  its  disappear- 
ance from  the  political  stage  (May  16). 

Robespierre  had  manoeuvred  very  skilfully.  He  thus  cast  down 
men  who,  after  having  been  leaders  of  the  Jacobins,  had,  since 
the  death  of  Mirabeau,  been  at  the  head  of  the  Assembly.  In 
interdicting  them  from  entering  the  future  Assembly,  he  interdicted 
himself  also ;  but  his  ever-increasing  influence  in  the  powerful 


1791.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  151 

society  of  the  Jacobins  assured  him  more  on  the  one  side  than 
he  would  lose  on  the  other.  Through  means  of  the  Jacobins, 
he  counted  upon  influencing  the  future  Assembly. 

Eobespierre  and  Duport,  the  most  profound  if  not  the  most  elo- 
quent leaders  of  the  Left,  found  themselves  agreed  some  days  later 
upon  a  question  of  another  kind,  —  the  question  of  the  death  penalty. 
Robespierre  said  that  the  law  ought  not  to  punish  "  a  murder  by  a 
murder,  one  crime  by  another  crime."  He  argued  that  if  judges 
are  not  infallible,  they  have  no  right  to  pronounce  an  irreparable 
penalty. 

Duport,  an  eminent  legislator,  "whose  name,"  says  Michelet,  a 
great  historian  of  the  Revolution,  "  remains  attached  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  jury  in  France,  and  to  all  our  judicial  institutions," 
expressed  the  same  sentiments,  and  with  much  elevation.  He 
uttered  words  which  erelong  France  had  only  too  much  occasion  to 
recall  In  describing  the  violent  and  continual  changes  going  on  in 
men  and  things,  he  said,  "  Let  us  at  least  make  revolutionary  scenes 
as  little  tragic  as  possible.  Let  us  render  man  respectable  to  man ! " 

The  Assembly  judged  the  maintenance  of  the  death  penalty 
necessary  (June  3).  The  great  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth 
century  had  not  demanded  its  abolition.  In  finally  abolishing 
atrocious  punishments  and  tortures,  the  Assembly  decreed  that 
every  one  condemned  to  death  should  be  beheaded.  A  deputy,  the 
physician  Guillotin,  invented  the  machine  called  after  his  name, 
the  guillotine.  His  aim  was  to  render  execution  more  rapid  and 
less  cruel  than  by  the  sword,  the  gibbet,  or  the  axe. 

Marat,  in  his  journal,  with  transports  of  joy  applauded  the  main- 
tenance of  the  death  penalty  against  which  Robespierre  had  protested. 

Robespierre  henceforth  played  a  leading  part.  He  soon  after 
presented  the  request  of  the  Jacobins  for  the  dismissal  of  army 
officers,  as  persons  for  the  most  part  suspected  of  opposing  the 
Revolution.  The  Assembly  agreed  upon  a  measure  less  violent 
and  more  politic ;  it  was  to  impose  upon  all  officers  a  pledge  of 
honor  to  oppose  personally  all  plots  against  the  Constitution. 
Those  who  refused  were  to  be  punished  by  the  withdrawal  of  a 


152  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

quarter  of  their  salary.  This  was  analogous  to  what  had  heen  done 
in  relation  to  the  clergy ;  and  the  counter-revolutionary  party  felt 
itself  so  much  affected  by  this  decree,  that  its  leaders  urged  the 
king  to  hasten  the  execution  of  a  project  long  since  formed,  —  the 
project  of  escaping  from  Paris  to  the  frontier,  to  place  himself  under 
foreign  protection. 

This  was  the  plan  of  the  counter-revolutionists  who  remained  at 
home ;  the  emigrants  had  another  plan,  and  the  party  of  the  Count 
d'Artois  had  no  understanding  with  the  party  of  the  queen.  The 
emigrants,  grouped  around  the  Count  d'Artois,  wished  a  foreign 
invasion  combined  with  domestic  plots  and  coups  de  main,  without 
caring  for  what  happened  to  the  king  and  queen. 

The  great  concern  of  Louis  XVI.  was  to  avoid  the  fate  the 
Stuarts  had  met  in  England.  He  wished  neither  to  cause  civil  war, 
like  Charles  I.,  nor  to  leave  his  kingdom,  like  James  II.  Hence 
the  design  he  concerted  with  the  queen,  to  withdraw  into  a  frontier 
place  in  the  midst  of  French  soldiers,  whom  foreign  soldiers  would 
support.  He  imagined  that  a  manifesto  issued  by  him,  and  sustained 
by  a  declaration  of  foreign  sovereigns,  would  suffice  to  make  the 
nation  consent  to  change  the  Constitution  and  restore  the  royal 
power ! 

The  designs  of  the  sovereigns  against  the  Revolution  were  far 
more  advanced  than  patriots  believed.  In  the  first  months  of 
1791  the  sovereign  powers  had  been  ready  to  divide  into  two 
leagues,  —  England,  Prussia,  and  Holland  against  Russia  and  Aus- 
tria. Pitt,  far  from  dreaming  of  war  against  France,  wished  to 
succor  Turkey  from  the  Russians,  who  had  invaded  her  territory, 
and  Austria  and  Prussia  had  been  upon  the  point  of  breaking  their 
treaty  of  Reichenbach.  War  between  England  and  Russia  had  not 
broken  out,  because  Pitt  had  not  been  sustained  by  public  opinion. 
The  English  preferred  the  interests  of  their  Russian  commerce  to 
the  political  interest  they  had  in  arresting  the  progress  of  Russia 
in  the  Orient. 

It  was  a  great  misfortune  for  France  and  for  Europe  that  this 
war  did  not  break  out ;  it  would  have  rendered  foreign  intervention 


1791.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  153 

impossible  in  the  French  Eevolution,  and  the  Eevolution  would 
have  been  infinitely  less  violent.  And,  furthermore,  this  war  would 
probably  have  saved  Poland. 

And  so  Pitt,  whom  France  has  so  long  considered  as  the  most 
implacable  instigator  of  the  coalition  against  the  Revolution,  had, 
on  the  contrary,  projects  which  would  have  greatly  aided  her, 
although  he  was  thinking  of  quite  other  things  than  aiding  her. 

This  shows  how  much  prejudice  is  to  be  distrusted  in  history  as 
in  all  things  else. 

Pitt  and  his  allies,  being  obliged  to  negotiate,  rather  than  fight 
Austria  and  Prussia,  had  formed  a  new  alliance ;  but  all  this  was 
too  fluctuating  to  allow  any  common  plan  of  action  to  have  been 
formed. 

Pitt,  certainly,  was  not  disposed  to  any  such  concerted  plan,  al- 
though his  sentiments  were  little  kindly  toward  the  French  Eevolu- 
tion. The  king  of  Prussia,  who,  since  1789,  had  desired  to  interfere 
with  affairs  in  France,  had  made  offers  to  Louis  XVI.  inclining  to- 
ward armed  intervention ;  but  his  ministers  had  deterred  him.  The 
Emperor  Leopold,  notwithstanding  his  family  ties  with  the  court 
of  France,  had  proceeded  slowly  and  with  circumspection.  He  had 
other  important  matters  in  his  head.  Catherine  II.,  the  famous 
czarina  of  Russia,  clamored  from  afar  against  the  Revolution ;  but 
she  was  still  occupied  with  her  Turkish  war.  The  kings  of  Spain 
and  Sardinia  believed  that  they  could  act  only  in  concert  with  the 
emperor. 

The  most  ardent  of  all  for  "  the  common  cause  of  kings,"  so  it 
was  said,  was  he  who  could  do  the  least,  Gustavus  III.,  king  of 
Sweden,  a  restless,  romantic  spirit,  who  abandoned  his  own  interests 
and  his  own  quarrels  with  Eussia  to  dream  of  the  glory  of  restor- 
ing the  throne  of  France.  He  had  transported  himself  to  the 
Rhine,  to  be  in  the  midst  of  events,  and  in  case  of  need  to  take  a 
personal  part  in  them. 

The  plan  of  the  French  court  was  concerted  by  Marie  Antoinette 
and  the  former  Austrian  ambassador,  Count  de  Merci,  the  queen's 
principal  counsellor  since  her  marriage,  and  who  was  now  at  the 


154  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

head  of  Belgian  affairs.  In  a  letter  of  March  7,  1791,  Merci  in- 
formed the  queen  that  Austria  had  in  Belgium  more  than  fifty 
thousand  picked  soldiers,  but  that  the  intrigues  of  Prussia  and 
England  kept  up  such  an  agitation  in  that  country  as  to  prevent 
these  troops  being  available.  The  greatest  obstacle  to  "  the  king's 
views  "  (the  union  of  the  powers  of  Europe  against  the  Eevolution) 
would  always,  in  his  opinion,  come  from  England,  who  dreamed 
only  of  prolonging  "  the  horrors  of  democracy,"  so  as  to  ruin  her 
rival,  France. 

It  was  necessary,  wrote  Merci,  to  make  sacrifices,  so  as  at  any  price 
to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  court  of  London  to  measures  favorable 
to  the  restoration  of  royal  authority  in  France ;  without  which  no 
foreign  power,  not  even  the  best  intentioned,  could  prove  effectual. 
The  powers  do  nothing  without  compensation.  France  must  favor 
the  designs  of  the  king  of  Sardinia  upon  Geneva,  and  cede  to  him 
some  territory  in  the  French  Alps  and  upon  the  Var.  She  must 
cede  to  Spain  some  territory  on  the  Navarre,  and  offer  some  advan- 
tages in  Alsace  to  the  German  princes  who  had  fiefs  there.  The 
emperor  was  the  only  one  from  whom  disinterested  assistance  could 
be  hoped.  But  foremost  in  importance  was  the  escape  of  the  king. 
All  would  be  lost  if  this  measure  failed. 

This  letter  was  intercepted,  and  sent  to  the  investigating  com- 
mittee of  the  National  Assembly.  Suspicion  was  thus  changed  into 
certainty ;  but  this  revelation  was  not  made  public. 

Meantime  the  correspondence  continued.  Merci  saw  more  clearly 
than  Louis  XVI. ;  and  the  escape  of  the  king,  in  his  opinion,  im- 
plied civil  war  declared  by  the  king  at  the  head  of  his  noblesse 
and  the  soldiers  who  remained  faithful  to  him. 

April  20  the  queen  replied  to  Merci,  asking  if  the  Belgian  gov- 
ernment could  send  fifteen  thousand  men  into  the  Luxembourg, 
and  as  many  to  Mons,  so  that  General  Bouille  could  collect  his 
soldiers  and  munitions  at  Montmedi  under  pretext  of  guarding  the 
frontier. 

On  the  27th  Merci  replied  that  he  had  eleven  thousand  soldiers 
at  a  little  distance  from  the  frontier,  which  force  offered  a  support 


1791.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  155 

to  General  Bouille  ;  but  that  he  could  not  at  this  moment  withdraw 
his  troops  from  Belgium. 

May  22  Marie  Antoinette  wrote  to  the  emperor,  her  brother,  that 
the  king  and  herself  had  decided  to  go  to  Montmedi ;  that  General 
Bouille  was  collecting  his  forces,  and  anxiously  desired  the  emperor 
to  retain  at  Luxembourg  from  eight  to  ten  thousand  available  sol- 
diers, who  might  enter  France  when  the  king  should  be  in  a  place 
of  safety.  "  These  soldiers,"  said  she,  "  would  serve  as  an  example 
to  ours,  and  restrain  them." 

June  12  the  Emperor  Leopold  announced  to  his  sister  that  the 
Count  de  Merci  had  orders,  after  the  king  should  succeed  in  making 
his  escape,  to  place  money  and  soldiers  at  the  disposal  of  Marie 
Antoinette.  "  In  this  event,"  added  he,  "  we  can  count  upon  the 
king  of  Sardinia,  upon  the  Swiss,  upon  the  forces  of  all  the  princes 
in  Europe,  even  those  of  the  king  of  Prussia  who  are  at  Wesel,  and 
consequently  very  near  at  hand.  When  you  are  in  safety,  you 
must  protest  publicly  against  all  that  has  been  done,  and  call  your 
friends  and  your  faithful  subjects  to  your  aid.  All  the  world  will 
fly  to  you,  and  everything  will  be  ended  more  easily  than  people 
think." 

The  escape  was  arranged  with  little  haste  and  with  no  prudence 
at  all.  It  would  have  been  very  easy  for  the  king  to  escape  alone ; 
but  Marie  Antoinette  for  nothing  in  the  world  would  have  allowed 
him  to  depart  without  her ;  she  had  too  much  fear  lest  he  might 
fall  into  the  hands  of  her  personal  enemies,  Calonne  and  the  other 
emigrants  around  the  Count  d'Artois. 

The  royal  pair  therefore  made  preparations  for  carrying  away 
with  them  the  little  dauphin  and  his  sister,  beside  the  king's 
sister,  the  children's  governess,  and  three  body-guards  in  disguise ; 
they  were  to  go  in  two  large  carriages,  and  General  Bouille  was 
ordered  to  place  detachments  of  cavalry  at  different  points  along 
the  route  between  Chalons  and  Montmedi.  This  measure  must 
inevitably  forewarn  the  people  all  along  the  way. 

Paris  had  no  need  of  being  forewarned.  It  kept  incessantly  an 
open  eye  upon  the  Tuileries.  Marat,  in  his  journal,  raised  the  cry 


156  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

of  alarm.  La  Fayette  and  Bailli  received  from  subaltern  employees 
at  the  palace  very  important  information.  Bailli  had  the  impru- 
dent confidence  to  reveal  one  of  these  pieces  of  information  to  the 
queen.  La  Fayette  frankly  approached  the  king  with  a  question  as 
to  the  truth  of  the  rumors.  La  Fayette  says  in  his  Memoirs  that 
Louis  XVI.  gave  him  assurances  so  positive,  so  solemn,  that  he 
believed  he  could  answer  "  upon  his  head  "  that  the  king  would  not 
depart.  The  especial  friends  of  the  king  and  queen  were  deceived, 
as  were  La  Fayette  and  the  ministers.  After  solemn  assurances 
from  Louis  XVL,  Montmarin,  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  wrote, 
June  1,  to  the  Assembly,  that  he  could  attest,  he  too  upon  his  head 
and  upon  his  honor,  that  the  king  had  never  dreamed  of  leaving 
France. 

In  the  night  of  June  20  the  royal  family  escaped  from  the 
Tuileries  through  a  gate  left  unguarded.  The  king  was  disguised 
as  a  valet  de  chambre,  in  a  gray  coat  and  a  periwig.  The  queen  had 
borrowed  the  passport  of  a  Russian  lady.  The  queen  strayed  away 
with  a  body-guardsman  who  was  conducting  her  but  did  not  know 
the  route,  and  wandered  about  a  full  half-hour  before  regaining  the 
carriage  at  the  corner  of  the  Eue  1'Echelle,  where  the  king  was 
awaiting  her. 

They  left  Paris,  without  further  obstacle,  by  the  Chalons  route. 

At  dawn  the  tidings  spread  through  all  Paris.  The  municipality 
had  alarm-cannon  fired;  the  clubs  declared  permanent  sittings.  All 
were  forbidden  to  leave  the  city.  The  generale  was  beaten ;  the 
men  of  July  14  reappeared  with  pikes,  and  took  possession  of  the 
Tuileries.  Everywhere  the  name  of  the  king  was  erased  from  the 
public  monuments,  from  the  standards,  and  the  word  royal  was 
replaced  by  the  word  national. 

The  populace  said,  pointing  to  the  hall  of  the  Assembly,  "  Our 
king  is  in  there ;  the  other  king  may  go  where  he  wishes." 

The  Assembly  showed  much  vigor  and  decision;  it  summoned 
the  ministers,  ordained  that  all  its  decrees  should  be  immediately 
executed  throughout  the  kingdom,  instructed  its  military  committee 
to  watch  over  the  public  safety,  and  called  to  its  bar  the  commander 
of  the  national  guard  and  the  mayor  of  Paris. 


1791.]  THE  VAREXNES  JOURNEY.  157 

As  La  Fayette  was  accused  of  having  allowed  the  king's  escape, 
Barnave,  now  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  majority,  and  who  had  a  long 
time  been  in  opposition  to  La  Fayette,  defended  him  vigorously  and 
showed  the  necessity  of  union. 

La  Fayette,  menaced  by  the  mob  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  had 
appeased  it,  half  by  grave  arguments,  half  by  a  jest.  "  Of  what  do 
you  complain  ? "  he  cried  out  to  the  people ;  "  you  every  one  of  you 
gain  twenty  sous'  income,  and  the  suppression  of  the  civil  list ! " 

There  were  twenty-five  million  Frenchmen,  and  the  king's  civil 
list  was  twenty-five  million  francs. 

La  Fayette,  before  going  to  the  Assembly,  at  the  advice  of  the 
mayor  of  Paris  and  the  president  of  the  Assembly,  had  taken  the 
responsibility  of  sending  to  all  the  national  guards  of  Paris  an  order 
to  arrest  "  the  enemies  of  the  country  who  had  carried  away  the 
king  and  his  family." 

At  the  first  moment  La  Fayette,  while  taking  energetic  measures 
against  the  king,  had  thus  placed  Louis  XVI.  under  the  shelter  of  a 
fiction.  The  Assembly  adopted  this  fiction  in  deciding  to  pursue 
those  who  had  carried  away  the  king  and  his  family. 

In  the  midst  of  such  a  crisis  the  Assembly  very  grandly  testified 
its  respect  for  the  principles  of  1789.  There  was  sent  to  it  a  letter 
found  at  the  Tuileries  and  addressed  to  the  queen.  The  president 
did  not  open  the  letter. 

A  man  in  the  confidence  of  Louis  XVL,  the  steward  of  the  civil 
list,  brought  to  the  Assembly  a  proclamation  the  king  had  left  at 
departure.  Here  Louis  XVI.  declared  that,  no  longer  hoping  for 
the  restoration  of  order  and  prosperity  through  the  means  employed 
by  the  National  Assembly,  seeing  royalty  discredited,  property  vio- 
lated, and  anarchy  throughout  the  kingdom,  he  had  been  obliged  to 
seek  a  place  of  safety.  Here,  also,  he  protested  against  all  the  acts 
emanating  from  him  during  his  captivity,  since  the  month  of  Octo- 
ber, 1789. 

He  then  made,  in  very  vulgar  style,  a  long  enumeration  of  his 
grievances.  Amid  recriminations  as  to  the  ruin  of  the  royal  power, 
he  complained  of  not  having  found  at  the  Tuileries  the  conven- 


158  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

iences  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed  in  his  other  residences, 
and  of  having  received  a  civil  list  of  only  twenty-five  millions, 
(equal  to  more  than  sixty  to-day !)  He  reproached  the  "  seditious  " 
for  having  regarded  in  an  evil  light  a  faithful  spouse  who  had  just 
set  the  climax  to  her  good  conduct. 

There  was  here  little  dignity  for  a  king  of  France ! 

The  Assembly  ended  its  session  by  ordering  that  all  the  national 
guards  of  the  kingdom  be  called  into  action  as  the  public  necessity 
might  demand. 

Promptly  recovered  from  its  surprise,  Paris  assumed  a  very  firm 
attitude.  The  people  showed  more  disdain  than  anger.  Only  scoffs 
were  heard  in  regard  to  the  king.  The  national  estates,  the  houses 
dependent  upon  the  chapter  of  Notre  Dame,  were  sold  that  very 
day,  a  third  beyond  their  estimated  value.  Here  was  a  confidence 
which  recalled  the  ancient  Eomans. 

The  republican  sentiment  began  to  break  forth.  Marat,  who  had 
only  frenzies  and  no  ideas  at  all  in  his  journal,  knew  no  resource 
but  to  demand  a  dictator,  that  is  to  say,  a  tyrant,  to  replace  the 
king;  to  order  the  beheading  of  La  Fayette,  Bailli,  of  all  the 
traitors  of  the  municipality,  the  National  Assembly,  etc.  But  dur- 
ing this  time  a  young  and  energetic  patriot,  the  Freemason  Bonne- 
ville,  was  writing  in  another  journal,  La  Bouche  de  Per  (The  Iron 
Mouth),  "  No  more  kings  !  No  dictator !  Have  you  seen  how  we 
are  brothers  when  the  tocsin  sounds,  when  the  generale  is  beaten, 
when  we  are  delivered  from  kings  ?  Assemble  the  people  in  the 
face  of  the  sun.  Proclaim  that  law  shall  alone  be  sovereign.  The 
law,  the  law  alone,  and  made  by  us  ! " 

Camille  Desmoulins,  on  his  part,  declared  at  the  Palais  Eoyal 
that  he  should  be  unhappy  to  have  the  perfidious  Louis  brought 
back  to  Paris ;  and  while  railing  at  the  king,  he  was  of  the  opinion 
that  his  life  should  be  spared,  and  that,  if  taken,  he  should  be  con- 
ducted by  slow  marches  to  the  frontier. 

The  club  of  the  Cordeliers,  to  which  Desmoulins  and  Marat  be- 
longed, put  up  a  placard,  at  the  head  of  which  were  these  lines  from 
Voltaire's  "  Brutus  "  :  — 


1791.]  THE  VARENNES  JOURNEY.  159 

"  Si  parmi  nous  il  se  trouvait  un  traitre, 
Qui  regrettat  les  rois  et  qui  voulut  un  maitre, 
Que  le  perfide  ineure  au  milieu  des  tourments."  * 

A  royal  journal  had  the  hardihood  to  reply,  announcing  that  all 
those  who  wished  to  be  comprised  in  the  amnesty  the  emigrant 
princes  would  offer  could  have  their  names  inscribed  at  its  office. 
Only  one  hundred  and  fifty  individuals  were  excepted.  The  royal- 
ists were  content  with  fewer  heads  than  Marat. 

A  very  few  took  this  bravado  seriously.  Almost  alone  among 
the  revolutionists,  Robespierre  showed  himself  troubled  and  af- 
frighted. He  said  to  his  colleague,  Petion,  that  the  accomplices  of 
the  court  were  doubtless  going  to  make  a  Saint  Bartholomew  of  the 
patriots,  and  that  he  did  not  expect  to  be  living  twenty-four  hours 
from  then.  The  deputy  Petion  and  the  journalist  Brissot  replied 
that,  on  the  contrary,  the  king's  flight  would  lead  to  the  fall  of  roy- 
alty, and  minds  must  be  prepared  for  the  Republic.  Brissot  pre- 
tended that  La  Fayette  had  let  the  king  escape  so  as  to  bring  in  the 
Republic. 

"  What  is  a  republic  ?  "  asked  Robespierre,  shaking  his  head. 

This  question  proves  that  Robespierre,  while  making  an  incessant 
warfare  upon  royal  power,  had  not  yet  clearly  fixed  in  his  mind 
what  was  to  succeed  the  monarchy. 

Robespierre  won  new  courage  when  he  better  appreciated  the  in- 
clinations of  the  people,  and  in  the  evening  he  was  as  violent  at  the 
Jacobins  as  he  had  that  afternoon  been  apprehensive  with  Petion. 
He  was  aware  that  the  new  leaders  of  the  majority,  Barnave  and 
the  brothers  Lameth,  were  to  come  with  La  Fayette,  Bailli,  and  two 
hundred  deputies,  to  seek  to  persuade  the  Jacobins  to  rally  unani- 
mously around  the  National  Assembly.  He  anticipated  them  by 
denouncing  not  only  the  king,  the  emigrants,  and  the  avowed  coun- 
ter-revolutionists, but  almost  all  the  members  of  the  Assembly,  as 
deceiving  the  nation  in  regard  to  the  pretended  abduction  of  the 
king,  and  as  being  counter-revolutionists  "  through  fear  or  ignorance, 

*  "If  among  us  there  be  found  a  traitor  who  could  regret  kings,  and  who  would 
wish  a  master,  let  the  wretch  die  in  the  midst  of  torments." 


160  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

through  resentment  or  blind  confidence."  "I  know,"  added  he, 
"  that  I  sharpen  against  me  a  thousand  poniards ;  but  if,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Eevolution,  when  I  was  scarce  noticed  in  the 
National  Assembly,  when  I  was  seen  only  by  my  conscience,  I 
would  have  sacrificed  my  life  to  the  truth,  to-day,  when  the  suf- 
frages of  my  fellow-citizens  have  well  repaid  me  for  this  sacrifice, 
I  should  accept  almost  as  a  blessing  a  death  which  would  prevent 
my  being  a  witness  of  calamities  I  perceive  to  be  inevitable." 

These  words,  mingled  with  exaggeration,  pride,  and  sincere  pas- 
sion, violently  excited  his  hearers.  "  We  will  all  die  with  you ! " 
exclaimed  Camille  Desmoulins ;  and  the  whole  club  arose,  swearing 
to  live  free  or  to  die  with  Robespierre. 

At  this  moment  the  procession  of  deputies  entered,  having  at 
their  head  Alexandre  de  Larneth  and  La  Fayette,  Barnave,  and 
Sieyes,  the  great  initiator  of  1789. 

To  the  shrill,  plaintive  voice  of  Robespierre  succeeded  a  voice  of 
thunder.  Danton  was  at  the  tribune.  Robespierre  had  accused  all 
the  world ;  Danton  attacked  La  Fayette  alone. 

"  Either  you  are  a  traitor,"  said  he,  "  who  have  favored  the  king's 
departure,  and  you  ought  to  lose  your  head,  or  you  are  incapable  of 
commanding,  since  you  have  not  been  able  to  prevent  the  escape  of 
the  king  confided  to  your  care ;  and  in  that  case  you  ought  to  be 
deposed !  Answer ! " 

La  Fayette  did  not  oppose  violence  with  violence.  He  reminded 
his  hearers  that  he  had,  first  of  all,  called  France  to  liberty,  and  de- 
clared that  he  had  just  united  with  the  Jacobins,  because  they  were 
the  true  patriots. 

Lameth,  Sieyes,  and  Barnave  preached  concord.  Barnave,  in  the 
name  of  the  club,  drew  up  an  address  to  kindred  societies  in  the 
departments. 

It  was  no  longer  said  that  the  king  had  been  carried  away,  but 
that  he  had  been  enticed  away  by  criminal  suggestions,  and  the 
address  declared  that  all  true  patriots  were  reunited  around  the 
Assembly  and  the  Constitution. 

The  Jacobins  accepted  this   address,  and  fraternally  conducted 


1791.]  THE  VARENNES  JOURNEY.  161 

back  the  general  and  the  deputies  against  whom  they  had  just 
pronounced  in  applauding  the  accusations  of  Robespierre  and 
Danton. 

The  leaders  of  the  majority,  who  in  the  address  of  the  Jacobins 
had  suppressed  the  phrase  carrying  away  the  king,  reinserted  it 
the  next  day  in  a  manifesto  through  which  the  National  Assembly 
replied  to  the  declaration  left  by  the  king  on  his  departure.  This 
persistence  in  employing  such  a  fiction  was  not  calculated  to  main- 
tain the  union  proclaimed  to  the  Jacobins. 

With  this  exception,  the  Assembly's  manifesto  was  firm,  and  vig- 
orously refuted  that  which  it  named  a  writing  full  of  ignorance 
and  blindness,  wrung,  before  his  departure,  from  a  deluded  king. 
"  France,"  said  the  manifesto,  "  wishes  to  be  free ;  she  will  be  free  ! 
The  Revolution  will  not  go  back ! " 

In  his  declaration  the  king  had  attacked  political  associations. 
The  manifesto  affirmed  that  the  societies  of  the  Friends  of  the  Con- 
stitution (the  Jacobins)  had  sustained  the  Revolution,  and  that  they 
were  more  necessary  than  ever. 

About  ten  in  the  evening,  when  the  Assembly  had  just  voted  the 
manifesto,  a  courier  announced  that  the  king  was  arrested. 

There  was  profound  emotion  in  the  Assembly  and  erelong 
throughout  Paris.  The  next  day,  June  23,  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Antoine  rose  and  marched  to  the  Assembly,  drawing  the  other 
quarters  along  with  it. 

La  Fayette,  instead  of  opposing  the  movement,  with  a  body  of 
national  guards  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  populace,  and 
went  to  declare  at  the  bar  of  the  Assembly  that  the  people  of  the 
capital  swore  to  defend  the  Constitution  and  liberty. 

The  mass  of  men,  armed  and  unarmed,  who  followed  the  national 
guards  defiled  for  many  hours  through  the  hall  of  the  Assembly. 

La  Fayette  thus  turned  to  the  profit  of  the  Assembly  a  move- 
ment commenced  with  the  cry,  "  Down  with  the  king  I "  far  rather 
than  with  the  cry,  "Long  live  the  Constitution!"  Since  1789 
there  had  been  a  custom  of  allowing  great  deputations  to  enter  the 
Assembly,  deputations  which  sometimes  became  large  crowds.  It 
11 


162  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

was  an  imprudence  which  this  time   had  not  turned  out  ill,  but 
which  was  to  end  in  fatal  results. 

The  night  preceding,  the  Assembly  had  given  an  order  for  bring- 
ing the  king  back  to  Paris. 

Louis  XVI.,  upon  his  departure  in  the  night  of  June  20,  had 
taken  the  route  of  Chalons-sur-Marne.  In  passing  through  this 
town  on  the  21st,  he  was  recognized ;  but  those  who  had  seen  him 
kept  silence.  He  passed  on.  Without  obstacle,  he  reached  Sainte- 
Menehould. 

It  was  late.  The  king  had  lost  much  time.  The  movements 
of  divers  detachments  of  cavalry  sent  by  Bouille  had  excited  the 
suspicion  of  people  along  the  route.  Upon  stopping  to  change 
horses  at  Sainte-Menehould,  Louis  XVI.  was  recognized  anew,  and 
this  time  by  the  postmaster  Drouet,  an  ardent  patriot. 

Here  were  the  dragoons  sent  on  by  Bouille.  Drouet  did  not  try 
to  have  the  carriages  stopped ;  but  he  mounted  a  horse  to  follow 
them.  At  Clermont,  in  Argonne,  the  king  left  the  Verdun  highway 
for  the  road  to  Varennes.  This  little  town  is  divided  by  the  river 
Aire.  Officers  sent  on  by  Bouille  had  provided  a  relay  in  that  part 
of  the  town  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  Through  a  misunder- 
standing, the  king  relied  upon  finding  the  post-horses  on  this  side. 
The  king  had  sent  no  courier  on  before.  It  was  night ;  half  an  hour 
was  lost  in  seeking  the  relay.  This  delay  proved  the  king's  ruin. 
Drouet  arrived. 

He  cried  out,  "  In  the  name  of  the  nation,  stop,  postilions  !  You 
are  driving  the  king ! " 

He  passed  on.  A  moment  after  the  beating  of  a  drum  was 
heard.  Through  the  force  of  entreaties,  the  postilions  were  in- 
duced to  drive  on  and  cross  the  bridge.  When  they  arrived  under 
the  arch  which  formed  the  head  of  the  bridge,  men  armed  with 
muskets  cried,  "  Halt,  there  !  Your  passports  ! " 

The  passage  was  barred  by  an  overturned  carriage.  It  was 
Drouet,  with  the  attorney  of  the  Varennes  commune  and  the  com' 
mander  of  the  national  guard,  who  had  come  on  with  all  possible 
haste. 


1791.]  THE  VARENNES  JOURNEY.  163 

The  three  guards  who  accompanied  the  king  were  unarmed. 
They  did  not  try  to  resist.  The  king  and  his  family  parleyed, 
without  confessing  who  they  were.  The  attorney  of  the  commune 
invited  the  travellers  to  repose  in  his  house,  which  was  very  near, 
while  the  municipality  were  deliberating  upon  their  passports.  The 
royal  family  went  down  into  the  shop  of  this  man,  who  was  a 
grocer  named  Sausse. 

Meanwhile  Drouet  had  hurried  off  to  have  the  alarm-bells  rung. 
He  feared  an  attack  from  the  hussars,  who  were  in  that  part  of 
the  town  beyond  the  bridge;  but  this  detachment,  through  the 
fault  of  its  commandant,  had  been  dispersed.  The  dragoons  who 
should  have  come  on  from  Sainte-Menehould  to  join  the  king  had 
taken  the  side  of  the  people,  and  refused  to  march.  Only  forty 
hussars  arrived,  and  these  their  officers  led  immediately  to  the 
grocer's  house. 

.But  the  national  guard  blocked  up  the  streets,  and  the  peasants, 
summoned  by  the  alarm-bells,  rushed  with  weapons  from  all  the 
villages. 

In  the  midst  of  the  tumult  the  officers  who  had  led  the  hussars 
penetrated  to  the  chamber  occupied  by  the  royal  family,  and  pro- 
posed to  the  king  and  queen  to  mount  on  horseback,  and  fly  with 
their  children.  They  promised  to  open  them  a  passage  with  their 
hussars,  and  to  assist  them  in  fording  the  little  river. 

Louis  XVI.  was  not  the  man  to  try  so  bold  a  stroke ;  and  the 
queen,  courageous  as  she  was,  dared  not  urge  him.  They  both 
calculated  that  Bouille,  whom  they  knew  to  be  at  Stenai,  would 
arrive  in  time  to  save  them. 

Toward  morning,  while  awaiting  Bouille,  a  third  detachment  of 
hussars  appeared;  but  they  found  'the  bridge  barricaded.  The 
commander  wished  his  men  to  descend  from  their  horses  and  make 
the  attack  with  their  carabines.  But  they  had  no  cartouches  ; 
they  had  been  stealthily  taken  from  them  in  the  houses  where  they 
had  lodged.  The  soldiers  were  environed  by  a  general  conspiracy. 

The  king  and  queen  had  tried  to  prevail  upon  the  municipality 
to  allow  them  to  pass  on.  The  queen  of  France,  the  haughty 


164  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

daughter  of  Maria  Theresa,  had  in  vain  appealed  to  the  kindly  feel- 
ing of  the  grocer's  wife,  seeking  to  move  her  by  the  sight  of  her 
children,  who  slept  peacefully  without  comprehending  their  misfor- 
tune. Both  the  grocer  and  his  wife,  even  had  they  wished  it,  were 
powerless  to  aid  the  king  and  his  family. 

Between  five  and  six  in  the  morning  an  envoy  arrived  from  the 
municipality  of  Paris,  and  'an  aide-de-camp  from  La  Fayette.  They 
brought  the  decree  from  the  National  Assembly,  ordering  the  bring- 
ing back  of  the  king.  Louis  XVI.  read  the  decree  and  said,  "There 
is  no  longer  any  king  in  France."  He  laid  the  decree  on  the  bed 
where  his  children  were  sleeping.  "It  shall  not  defile  my  chil- 
dren I "  exclaimed  the  queen,  and  she  flung  the  paper  indignantly 
upon  the  floor. 

A  murmur  arose  among  the  people  who  thronged  the  house.  It 
was  to  them  as  if  something  holy  had  been  profaned.  Meantime 
loud  cries  from  without  called  for  the  king. 

When  he  appeared  at  a  window,  pale,  silent,  with  dishevelled 
hair,  in  his  valet's  gray  coat,  rage  subsided,  and  there  was  a  move- 
ment of  compassion  in  the  crowd. 

He  was  none  the  less  forced  to  resume  the  journey,  not  for  the 
frontier,  but  for  Paris. 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  king  was  borne  away.  At 
nine  o'clock  Bouille's  Dragoons,  under  the  Duke  de  Choiseul,  arrived 
before  Varennes,  with  the  royal  German  regiment  that  had  attacked 
the  Parisians  on  the  night  of  the  taking  of  the  Bastille. 

The  alarm-bells  sounded  for  ten  leagues  around ;  the  whole 
country  rose,  and  the  garrison  of  Verdun  marched  with  cannon  to 
the  relief  of  the  national  guards.  Bouille  perceived  the  impossi- 
bility of  rejoining  the  king,  and  turned  back. 

The  carriages  which  bore  the  royal  family  advanced  slowly,  amid 
sun  and  dust,  athwart  deluges  of  armed  people,  who  all  along  the 
route  set  up  incessant  cries  and  imprecations.  Town  and  country 
wrere  in  insurrection  at  this  idea :  "  The  king  \vas  betraying  the 
people !  The  king  was  going  to  seek  foreigners  who  would  domi- 
neer over  and  pillage  France ! " 


DUKE   OF   CHOISEUL. 


1791.]  THE  VARENNES  JOURNEY.  165 

The  crowd  especially  menaced  the  three  body-guards  who  were 
on  the  seat  in  front  of  the  carnage,  although  no  harm  was  done 
them.  But,  near  Sainte-Menehould,  a  gentleman  having  come  to 
salute  the  king,  and  caracole  his  fine  horse  near  the  carriage,  the 
mob  rushed  upon  him  and  murdered  him. 

At  Chalons  all  this  changed.  The  city  was  royalist.  The  ladies 
of  Chalons  brought  bouquets  to  the  princesses.  The  national  guards 
spoke  of  escorting  the  king  to  the  frontier.  But  next  morning  the 
patriots  of  Eeims  arrived  en  masse,  and  thousands  of  peasants  with 
them.  The  Chalonais  were  not  in  force ;  the  royal  family  had  to 
resume  its  route. 

Between  Epernai  and  Dormans  the  sad  cortege  met  three  com- 
missioners sent  by  the  National  Assembly.  They  were  Barnave, 
Petion,  and  a  friend  of  La  Fayette's,  Latour-Maubourg. 

The  queen  and  the  king's  sister,  Madame  Elisabeth,  implored  the 
commissioners  to  prevent  ill  happening  to  the  servants  who  had 
accompanied  them.  They  protested  that  the  king  had  not  wished 
to  leave  France.  "  No,"  said  Louis  XVI.,  "  I  was  not  leaving  the 
kingdom.  I  was  going  to  Montmedi,  where  it  was  my  intention  to 
remain  until  I  should  have  examined  and  freely  accepted  the  Con- 
stitution." 

Barnave  said  low  to  an  aide-de-camp  of  La  Fayette's,  "  If  the 
king  repeats  those  words  in  Paris,  we  will  save  him." 

Barnave  and  Petion  entered  the  carriage  with  the  king  and  his 
family.  Barnave  showed  great  respect  for  the  royal  family,  moved 
by  a  sentiment  of  sincere  compassion  for  so  great  misfortunes,  and 
also  by  policy.  He  had  formed  his  plan  from  the  first  day  of  the 
king's  escape ;  he  desired  to  resume  the  role  Mirabeau  had  played 
during  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  but  without  being  paid  like  Mira- 
beau for  his  services  to  the  court. 

Petion,  who  was  in  no  way  malicious,  but  who  had  much  vanity 
and  little  tact,  affected,  on  the  contrary,  rough,  haughty  ways,  and 
a  free,  revolutionary  manner  of  speaking,  which  in  such  circum- 
stances became  impropriety  and  even  inhumanity. 

The  throng  continued  numerous  all  along  the  route ;  now  men- 


166  THE   FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VII. 

acing,  now  silent  toward  the  king  and  his  family,  it  everywhere 
showed  great  respect  for  the  envoys  of  the  Assembly.  A  priest 
having  approached  the  carriages,  in  giving  lively  expression  to  his 
sympathy,  came  near  meeting  the  same  fate  as  the  gentleman  who 
had  perished  near  Sainte-Menehould.  The  furious  populace  rushed 
upon  him.  Barnave  sprang  half  out  the  carriage  door,  exclaiming, 
"  Are  you  not  then  Frenchmen  ?  The  nation  of  brave  men,  is  it  a 
nation  of  assassins  ? " 

The  mob  let  the  priest  go.  The  body-guards  had  also  been  in  new 
danger.  Petion  proposed  to  let  them  escape  at  night.  The  king 
and  queen  wrongly  distrusted  him,  and  refused. 

The  royal  family  passed  the  night  of  June  24  at  Meaux,  in  the 
Episcopal  palace  where  Bossuet  had  dwelt  in  the  time  of  the  splen- 
dor of  the  now  agonized  monarchy. 

June  25  they  re-entered  Paris  by  the  Pantin  barrier.  La  Fayette 
had  been  advised  that  they  would  not  enter  the  heart  of  Paris,  but 
would  make  a  circuit  through  the  exterior  barriers  and  the  Champs 
Ely  sees.  It  was  easier,  on  these  broad  highways,  to  protect  the  royal 
family ;  and  beside,  at  this  moment,  the  masses  were  not  disposed 
to  violence.  They  had  everywhere  spontaneously  posted  this  notice 
upon  the  walls:  "Whoever  applauds  the  king  shall  be  flogged; 
whoever  insults  him  shall  be  hanged." 

The  national  guard  made  a  hedge  with  reversed  muskets,  in  token 
of  mourning  for  the  king's  error.  The  immense  throng  remained 
silent,  their  hats  upon  their  heads ;  such  was  the  order.  A  royalist 
deputy  having  uncovered  as  the  king  passed,  the  people  tried  to  force 
him  to  put  on  his  hat ;  he  darted  away  into  the  crowd.  They  found 
that  he  was  a  brave  man,  and  did  him  no  harm. 

There  was  one  moment  of  peril,  that  of  the  descent  from  the 
carriages  at  the  Tuileries,  before  the  middle  pavilion.  A  band  of 
furious  men  forced  the  hedge  of  national  guards  and  sought  to 
kill  the  three  body-guards.  The  national  guards  saved  them.  The 
queen  had  an  instant  of  terrible  anguish ;  in  the  tumult  she  had 
been  separated  from  her  son,  the  little  dauphin.  A  deputy  of  the 
Left  brought  him  back  to  her. 


1791.]  THE  VARENXES  JOURNEY.  167 

M.  de  Choiseul,  a  duke  and  peer  of  France,  had  been  chosen, 
in  conjunction  with  General  Bouille  and  M.  de  Fersen,  to  make 
arrangements  for  the  flight  of  Louis  XVI.  and  his  family.  The 
post  of  Varennes  not  having  been  confided  to  him,  he  was  in  no 
way  responsible  for  the  failure  of  plans  he  had  attempted  to  carry 
out  at  the  peril  of  his  life.  He  was  thrown  into  prison,  while 
Bouille  and  Fersen  succeeded  in  escaping  from  France.  Upon  the 
amnesty  following  the  king's  proclamation,  De  Choiseul  was  set 
at  liberty.  Named  Chevalier  of  Honor  to  the  queen  in  1792,  he 
remained  true  to  the  royal  family  in  all  its  vicissitudes,  leaving 
France  only  when  a  price  was  set  upon  his  head.  Royalty  had  no 
more  honest  or  chivalrous  defender. 

When  La  Fayette  presented  himself  before  the  king,  Louis  XVI. 
said  to  him,  "  Until  latterly  I  believed  myself  in  a  vortex  of 
people  of  your  opinion,  but  I  did  not  think  this  the  opinion  of 
France.  This  journey  has  taught  me  that  I  was  in  error,  that  a 
very  great  number  share  your  sentiments." 

In  this  manner  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette  re-entered  the 
Tuileries,  which  they  were  to  leave  only  for  the  Temple  prison. 

As  Louis  XVI.  confessed,  a  great  number  held  these  advanced 
opinions.  There  was  an  immense  movement  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other.  The  departments  and  the  towns  sent  in  hosts 
of  addresses  and  promises  of  armed  assistance  to  the  Assembly.  On 
all  sides  the  people  enrolled  themselves  to  rush  to  the  succor  of  the 
country.  Bordeaux  and  the  Gironde,  which  were  soon  to  furnish 
such  glorious  representatives  to  the  Revolution,  were  signalized 
among  all  by  their  zeal.  A  thousand  admirable  incidents  were 
cited.  The  soldiers  of  the  regiments  of  Alsace  and  Foix  repaired 
the  fortifications  of  Givet,  a  frontier  place,  not  only  without  recom- 
pense, but  expending  upon  them  their  hard-won  wages.  The  coun- 
try people  came  in  throngs  to  pay  their  taxes  in  advance.  The 
women  of  Lorient,  while  the  men  rushed  to  Vannes  to  put  down  a 
conspiracy  for  the  counter-revolution,  placed  the  ramparts  in  a  state 
of  defence. 

France  had  risen  to  defend  the  Revolution. 


168  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY  (concluded}. —  THE  DAY  OF  THE  CHAMPS 
DE  MARS.  —  THE  DECLARATION  OF  PILNITZ. —  COMPLETION  OF  THE 
CONSTITUTION. 

June  to  September,  1794. 

BEFORE  the  king  had  re-entered  the  Tuileries,  the  Assembly 
was  occupied  with  measures  in  regard  to  him.     Thouret,  in 
the  name  of  the  Constitutional  Committee,  had  proposed :  — 

1.  That  for  the  time  being  a  guard  be  given  to  the  king,  which,  under 
the  orders  of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  national  guard,  shall  watch 
over  his  safety,  and  be  answerable  for  his  person. 

2.  That  for  the  time  being  an  especial  guard  be  given  to  the  heir  of 
the  crown,  and  that  the  Assembly  appoint  him  a  governor. 

3.  That  all  those  who  had  accompanied  the  royal  family  be  arrested 
and  interrogated,  and  that  the  king  and  the  queen  be  included  in  their 
declaration. 

4.  That  for  the  time  being  an  especial  guard  be  given  to  the  queen. 

5.  That  for  the  time  being  the  seal  of  the  state  continue  to  be  affixed 
by  the  minister  of  justice  to  the  decrees  of  the  National  Assembly,  with- 
out requiring  the  sanction  and  acceptance  of  the  king. 

The  royalist  deputy,  Malouet,  protested  against  this  draft  of  a 
decree  as  interfering  with  the  Constitution,  which  had  declared  the 
person  of  the  king  inviolable. 

A  deputy  of  the  Left  replied  that  the  decree  did  not  in  principle 
attack  the  inviolability  of  the  king ;  that  it  wras  only  a  question  of 
holding  the  king  in  a  state  of  temporary  arrest. 

The  words  "  arrest  of  the  king  "  excited  loud  murmurs.  Alexan- 
dre  de  Lameth  and  another  influential  deputy  declared  that  they 


1794.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  169 

desired  a  monarchical  constitution,  and  that  they  believed  the  ex- 
tent and  large  population  of  the  kingdom  demanded  a  monarchy. 

Thouret  and  Duport  dwelt  upon  the  distinction  made  in  the 
decree  between  persons  accused  of  having  concurred  in  the  abduc- 
tion of  the  king,  and  the  declaration  demanded  of  the  king  and 
queen.  Hence,  they  inferred  that  the  king  and  queen  were  not 
considered  as  accused.  The  decree  passed  almost  unanimously. 

The  Assembly,  as  Brissot  well  said  in  his  journal,  "  The  French 
Patriot,"  thus  put  words  in  contradiction  to  things.  It  arrested 
the  king  and  queen,  and  was  not  willing  to  admit  that  it  had  even 
formed  a  republican  Constitution  while  retaining  the  king  and  the 
name  of  monarchy. 

The  public  of  the  tribunes  had  not  applauded,  like  the  Assembly, 
the  monarchical  declarations  of  the  orators,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
sitting  a  deputation  from  the  department  of  L'Herault  came  to 
read  at  the  bar  of  the  Assembly  an  address  in  which  the  king  was 
reproached  for  having  violated  his  oath.  "  The  nation,  unworthily 
deceived,"  said  this  address,  "  will  not  solicit  from  you  an  act  of 
vengeance ;  but  the  people  expect  from  you  a  grand  act  of  jus- 
tice." 

The  Assembly  ended  its  session  by  disbanding  the  body-guards. 
There  was,  the  next  day,  a  new  debate  upon  the  carrying  out  of  the 
decree  of  June  25.  Duport,  in  the  name  of  the  committee  of  the 
Assembly,  proposed  that  the  usual  judges  proceed  to  question  the 
persons  arrested  as  to  the  reasons  of  the  abduction  of  the  night  of 
June  20,  and  that  three  commissioners  from  the  Assembly  hear  the 
declarations  of  the  king  and  queen. 

Robespierre  maintained  that  the  usual  judges  should  alone  be 
charged  with  all  information  concerning  the  king  and  queen.  "  The 
king,"  said  he,  "  the  first  public  functionary,  is  a  citizen  accountable 
to  the  nation." 

Duport  replied  that  the  king  was  not  a  citizen,  that  he  was  a 
power. 

And  yet  Duport  did  not  deny  that  the  king  could  be  accused ; 
for  he  added  that  here  they  had  not  YET  to  deal  with  a  criminal 


170  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

act,  but  only  with  a  political  act  of  the  National  Assembly  against 
the  king,  without  prejudging  anything. 

Thouret,  in  fact,  on  the  28th  of  the  preceding  March,  had  induced 
the  Assembly  to  decide  that  royalty  was  a  function,  and  that  its 
obligations  should  have  a  penal  sanction.  Duport's  proposition 
passed. 

Three  commissioners  from  the  Assembly  went  at  once  to  the 
Tuileries,  where  Louis  XVI.  made  to  them  a  declaration  suggested 
by  Barnave.  He  strongly  protested  against  his  having  had  any 
intention  of  leaving  the  kingdom,  and  pretended  to  have  had  no 
agreement  with  foreign  powers  or  with  emigrants.  He  had  wished, 
he  said,  to  re-establish  the  power  of  the  government,  and  to  assure 
his  liberty.  He  had  seen,  upon  his  journey,  that  public  opinion 
was  in  favor  of  the  Constitution.  It  was  not,  he  averred,  against 
the  principles  of  the  Constitution  that  he  had  protested. 

The  queen,  with  a  firmer  accent,  said  substantially  the  same 
things. 

Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette  were  in  reality  prisoners,  and 
guarded  within  sight  of  their  apartments. 

Parisian  opinion,  outside  the  Assembly,  did  not  understand  that 
it  could  be  possible  for  the  king  to  remount  the  constitutional 
throne  which  he  seemed  to  have  abdicated  by  his  flight.  The  most 
moderate  spoke  of  making  the  little  dauphin  king, — an  idea  very 
prevalent  in  the  Assembly  itself,  —  and  to  appoint  a  regent.  The 
Duke  of  Orleans  believed  it  his  duty  to  publish  in  the  journals  a 
letter  in  which  he  declared  that,  if  there  were  question  of  a  regency, 
he  renounced  the  rights  given  him  by  the  Constitution.  He  claimed 
to  be  simply  a  citizen. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  had  been  guilty  of  the  impropriety  of 
appearing  but  yesterday  in  the  crowd,  on  the  passage  of  that  sad 
royal  cortege,  was  trying  to  recover  his  popularity,  already  much 
compromised.  In  the  preceding  January  he  had  demanded  a  sum 
of  four  millions,  representing  the  principal  of  an  income  which  his 
great-grandfather,  the  regent,  had  given  as  a  dowry  to  one  of  his 
daughters,  through  the  hand  of  the  child  king,  Louis  XV.  The 


1794.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  171 

Duke  of  Orleans  pretended  to  be  the  heir  of  his  great-aunt ;  and 
although  she  had  renounced  the  regent's  succession  in  favor  of  her 
brother,  he  maintained  that  the  brother's  heirs  had  no  claim  upon 
this  gift  extorted  from  an  infant  king.  In  this  manner  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  counted  upon  reimbursing  himself  for  the  large  sums 
his  associates  had  drawn  from  him  to  support  their  cabals. 

The  Assembly  had  rejected  his  demand,  and  his  avarice  had 
greatly  injured  him  with  the  people. 

Despite  the  flight  and  arrest  of  the  king,  the  majority  of  the 
National  Assembly  wished  to  maintain  the  Constitution  which  it 
had  made,  and  to  keep  royalty  at  the  head  of  a  government  which 
was  in  every  other  respect  a  true  republic.  The  ancient  extreme 
Left,  the  party  of  Duport,  Barnave,  and  Lameth,  had  gone  over  to 
the  majority,  led  by  the  great  lawyers  Thouret,  Target,  Le  Chape- 
lier,  etc.,  the  principal  authors  of  the  Constitution.  Duport  and 
Alexandre  de  Lameth  had  done  even  more  than  to  rally  around 
the  majority.  At  first  the  majority  had  been  much  inclined  to 
transfer  the  crown  to  the  little  dauphin,  and  it  was  Duport  and 
Lameth  who  brought  back  the  committees  to  the  idea  of  restoring 
Louis  XVI. 

The  majority  of  the  Left  tried  to  reconcile  itself  with  the  royalist 
and  aristocratic  minority,  the  Eight.  The  Left  had  made  some  con- 
cessions to  induce  the  Eight  to  accept  the  Constitution,  and  to  aid 
in  maintaining  both  royalty  and  peace  with  foreign  governments. 

"  But,"  in  the  words  of  a  royalist  writer,  the  Marquis  de  Ferrieres, 
"  the  great  seigneurs,  the  high  clergy,  the  former  members  of  par- 
liament, the  financiers,  did  not  desire  in  the  Constitution  a  few 
mitigations  which  might  be  placed  there ;  they  wanted  the  whole 
Ancient  Eegime.  So  that  a  chance  for  the  Ancient  Eegime  re- 
mained, they  preferred  to  run  the  chance  of  the  ruin  of  the  mon- 
arch, of  their  own  ruin." 

Cazales,  the  loyal  and  brilliant  orator  of  the  Eight,  losing  all 
hope,  gave  his  resignation,  and  joined  the  emigrants. 

The  Abbe  Mauri,  who  had  equal  talent  but  not  so  high  a  sense 
of  right  as  Cazales,  drew  up,  in  concert  with  the  most  violent  and 


172  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

unreasonable  of  the  aristocratic  deputies,  a  protest,  which  the  whole 
Eight  signed, —  two  hundred  and  ninety  deputies.  Here  they 
declared  that  they  would  no  longer  recognize  the  legality  of  the 
Assembly's  decrees,  and  that  they  would  henceforth  take  no  part  in 
deliberations  which  had  not  for  their  sole  object  the  defence  of  the 
king  and  the  royal  family. 

June  30  the  Assembly  received  from  the  Marquis  de  Bouille  a 
letter  dated  at  Luxembourg,  where  he  had  taken  refuge  after  the 
affair  of  Varennes ;  here  he  declared  to  the  Assembly  that  it  should 
answer  for  the  lives  of  the  king  and  queen  to  all  the  kings  of  the 
universe ;  that  if  it  touched  a  hair  of  their  heads  there  would  not 
remain  one  stone  upon  another  in  Paris ;  that  all  hope  of  resistance 
was  chimerical.  " I  know  the  paths,"  added  he ;  "I  will  lead  the 
foreign  armies." 

This  letter  caused  no  fear,  but  great  wrath. 

The  party  which  wished  to  arrest  the  Eevolution  and  secure  its 
results  remained  isolated  between  two  other  parties, — that  which 
wished  to  put  down  the  Eevolution  by  the  aid  of  foreign  armies, 
and  that  which  wished  to  continue  it. 

All  conciliation  with  the  Eight  was  impossible.  Should  the 
majority  persist  in  sustaining  the  constitutional  king  at  the  same 
time  against  the  royalists  and  against  the  republicans  ? 

La  Fayette  was  a  thorough  republican.  He  had  said  to  the  king 
himself,  that  if  the  law  were  to  separate  the  royal  cause  from  that 
of  the  people,  he  should  remain  on  the  side  of  the  people.  He  had 
wished  that  a  meeting  of  the  principal  deputies,  convoked  at  the 
house  of  one  of  his  friends,  should  decide  for  a  republic.  Nothing 
came  from  it,  and  La  Fayette,  seeing  the  Assembly  almost  entirely 
opposed  to  this  idea,  submitted  to  the  majority. 

Opinion  outside  the  Assembly  was  quite  the  reverse.  The  jour- 
nals and  the  clubs  grew  more  and  more  violent  against  Louis  XVI. 
June  23,  Danton  said  to  the  Jacobins  that  the  king  ought  to  be 
deposed  as  an  imbecile,  even  if  not  declared  criminal,  and  the  king- 
dom be  governed  by  a  council  elected  by  the  departments.  Eobes- 
pierre,  more  severe  under  forms  of  speech  less  violent,  expressed  the 


1794.]  THE   CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  173 

opinion,  that  since  they  were  pursuing  the  accomplices  of  the  king's 
flight,  they  ought  to  pursue  the  principal  criminal 

June  27  another  orator  plainly  demanded  that  Louis  XVI.  be 
brought  before  a  high  tribunal  He  added  that  the  English  had 
given  France  a  great  example. 

He  referred  to  the  execution  of  Charles  I.  Other  Jacobins  pro- 
posed the  appointment  of  a  regent. 

The  Cordeliers,  on  their  part,  said  and  posted  everywhere  that 
Louis  XVI.  was  no  longer  anything,  and  that  it  remained  to  be 
known  whether  it  would  be  advantageous  to  nominate  another  king. 

Bonneville,  in  his  journal,  La  Bouche  de  Fer,  had  replied  to  this 
question :  "  The  sovereign  people,  by  remaining  covered  before  the 
former  king,  have  sanctioned  the  Republic." 

Meantime  the  Jacobins,  so  hostile  to  the  person  of  Louis  XVI., 
still  repudiated  the  words  of  tfceir  colleagues  who  demanded  a 
republic  (June  22  to  July  1).  It  was  contrary,  they  said,  to  their 
title,  "  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  Constitution." 

The  republican  movement  overpowered  them. 

July  1  there  was  posted  in  all  the  streets,  and  even  in  the 
corridors  of  the  Assembly,  an  Address  to  the  Citizens,  proposing 
the  deposition  of  the  king  and  the  abolition  of  royalty.  A  small 
number  of  deputies  demanded  proceedings  against  the  author.  The 
majority  affected  for  this  piece  of  advice  a  disdain  which  only 
concealed  their  embarrassment  and  disquietude,  and  passed  to  the 
order  of  the  day. 

This  address  was  the  work  of  the  publicist,  Thomas  Paine, 
who,  after  having  done  much  service  to  the  American  Revolution, 
had  come  to  offer  his  services  to  the  French  Revolution. 

Thomas  Paine  challenged  Sieyes  to  a  public  discussion  upon  the 
republic  and  the  monarchy.  Sieyes  had  recently  written  that  there 
was  more  freedom  under  a  monarchy  than  under  a  republic.  He 
showed  in  his  response  to  Paine  that  he  did  not  understand  these 
two  words  as  they  are  generally  understood.  By  a  republic  he 
meant  a  government  where  the  executive  power  is  confided  to  divers 
individuals,  to  a  council ;  and  by  a  monarchy,  a  government  where 


174  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

the  executive  power  is  confided  to  one  alone.  He  did  not  deny  that 
the  succession  of  the  head  of  the  government  is  contrary  to  true 
representative  principles,  and  he  should  pronounce  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  hereditary  king  only  in  view  of  circumstances  and 
opportunity.  In  theory,  he  should  prefer  an  elective  president. 

Camille  Desmoulins  and  Bonneville  redoubled  the  republican 
ardor  of  their  journals.  July  8,  at  the  Jacobins,  Petion  spoke 
against  the  re-establishment  of  Louis  XVI.  on  the  throne.  On  the 
10th  Brissot,  with  far  more  talent  and  effect,  maintained  that  the 
king  should  be  brought  to  trial ;  he  affirmed  that  those  they  called 
republicans  wished  neither  anarchy  nor  the  division  of  France  into 
small  federate  republics,  that  they  wished  unity  of  country.  There 
was  no  need,  in  his  opinion,  to  be  disquieted  as  to  what  the  kings 
of  Europe  might  do  against  France.  It  was  for  them,  and  not  for 
France,  to  tremble.  , 

The  Jacobins  were  aroused  by  this  discourse,  and  applauded  with 
transport.  The  provincial  societies  affiliated  with  the  Jacobins  had 
sent  them  numerous  addresses,  animated  by  a  republican  spirit. 
The  provinces  urged  Paris  on.  But  it  was  from  Paris  that  many  of 
these  societies  had  received  the  impulse  given  by  a  woman's  hand. 

This  woman  was  Madame  Roland.  She  was  a  Parisian,  the 
daughter  of  an  engraver.  Her  maiden  name  was  Manon  Philipon. 
She  had  married  a  man  much  older  than  herself,  who  had  inspired 
her  with  a  profound  esteem  and  a  real  affection  by  his  virtues,  his 
knowledge,  and  his  patriotism.  Roland  de  la  Platiere,  inspector  of 
manufactories,  had  long  served  his  country  by  patient  labors  for  her 
economic  and  industrial  interests ;  he  now  sought  to  serve  her  in  a 
political  sense,  by  devoting  himself  to  the  Revolution.  His  wife 
enthusiastically  joined  in  the  opinions  which  Roland  maintained 
with  an  austere  gravity. 

Enthusiasm  in  Madame  Roland  had,  from  her  first  youth,  been 
united  with  serious  meditations.  She  was  so  penetrated  by  the 
ideas  and  sentiments  of  Rousseau,  that  one  might  have  said  he  had 
transmitted  his  soul  to  her,  and  that  she  was  his  daughter. 

But  if  she  had  inherited  Rousseau's  ideas  and  sentiments,  she  had 


1794.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  175 

not  inherited  his  weaknesses.  She  was  as  strong,  as  much  mistress 
of  herself,  of  her  inclinations,  of  her  actions,  of  her  imagination,  as 
Bonssean  had  been  the  contrary,  at  least  during  the  first  half  of  his 
life.  She  had  so  profited  by  his  lessons  as  not  to  follow  his 
example. 

Her  voice  had  first  been  heard,  although  her  name  had  not  been 
known,  at  the  time  of  the  Lyonnais  federation  of  1790 ;  then  from 
the  environs,  of  Lyons,  where  she  dwelt  with  her  husband,  she 
came  with  him  to  Paris  in  179L  Their  little  salon  in  the  Rue 
Guenegaud  soon  became  the  rendezvous  of  deputies  and  journal- 
ists of  the  most  advanced  opinion, — Brissot,  Petion,  Robespierre, 
Camille  Desmoulins,  Buzot,  Gregoire,  etc.  Madame  Roland  from 
the  very  first  exercised  over  all  an  extraordinary  attraction,  whose 
effect  upon  many,  and  the  best,  did  not  cease  until  her  death. 

She  was  then  thirty-seven  years  old,  but  she  appeared  much 
younger.  Her  face,  animated  and  expressive,  produced  a  more 
vivid  impression  than  regular  beauty.  Her  forehead,  ample  and 
full  of  thought,  seemed  that  of  a  man  of  genius ;  but  her  gracious 
visage,  her  whole  person,  had  the  true  womanly  charm.  Her  large 
eyes,  so  proud,  so  sweet,  penetrated  to  the  depths  of  your  soul  All 
in  her  was  strength,  goodness,  honesty;  and  grace  gave  all  these 
other  advantages  their  full  value. 

It  was,  so  to  speak,  the  very  idea  of  the  Republic  which  took 
form  in  this  woman.  In  her  was  personified  a  second  epoch  of  the 
Revolution,  which  was  no  longer  the  constituent  epoch.  Beyond 
that  great  Assembly  which  had  overthrown  the  Ancient  Regime, 
but  which  wished  still  to  retain  a  king,  Madame  Roland  from  the 
moment  of  her  arrival  in  Paris  had  perceived  other  things  in  the 
future.  At  the  time  of  the  king's  flight,  she,  who  until  then  had 
kept  modestly  in  the  shade  behind  her  husband,  wrote  and  caused 
others  to  write  on  all  sides  to  the  provinces,  to  urge  the  societies 
affiliated  with  the  Jacobins  and  the  primary  assemblies  to  consult 
France  and  learn  whether  she  wished  to  maintain  royalty.  She 
and  her  husband  were  fully  decided  that  it  ought  not  to  be  main- 
tained. 


176  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

Many  other  women  were  at  that  time  working  very  actively  in 
Paris,  some  for  royalty,  others  for  republicanism.  Among  those 
who  thought  with  Madame  Eoland  there  is  one  worthy  of  being 
cited  with  her  for  moral  purity,  elevated  ideas,  and  heroic  devotion 
to  liberty  and  country.  It  is  Madame  de  Condorcet. 

Like  Madame  Roland  and  like  all  the  women  of  that  time  who 
did  not  remain  on  the  side  of  the  clergy  and  the  Ancient  Regime, 
Madame  de  Condorcet  was  a  pupil  of  Rousseau.  Not  like  Madame 
Roland  belonging  to  the  poor  bourgeoisie,  but  to  the  noblesse,  she 
had  been  destined  for  a  nun;  but  she  had  passed  over  to  philosophy 
in  marrying  a  philosopher,  he  too  a  noble  without  fortune,  and,  like 
Roland,  much  older  than  his  wife.  But  Condorcet  was  one  of  those 
men  who,  animated  by  an  inner  flame,  under  an  appearance  of  frigid 
reserve,  remain  young  all  their  life. 

Condorcet,  the  biographer  of  Voltaire,  the  friend  of  Turgot,  and  the 
last  survivor  of  the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  believed 
the  moment  come  for  putting  into  practice  the  conceptions  of  phi- 
losophy. Urged  on  by  the  vivid  inspirations  of  his  wife,  and  decided 
by  the  meditations  of  his  lofty  reason,  he  judged  it  impossible  to 
persist  in  the  compromise  attempted  by  the  men  of  1789  between 
democracy  and  royalty. 

July  12,  at  the  Social  Circle,  a  club  where  they  entered  less  into 
active  politics,  but  more  into  theories  and  political  philosophy,  than 
with  the  Jacobins  and  Cordeliers,  Condorcet  delivered  a  discourse 
where  he  maintained  that  a  king  was  in  no  way  necessary  where 
powers  were  well  organized.  He  refuted  the  prejudice  which  made 
many  believe  that  a  great  state  like  France  could  not  constitute 
itself  a  republic.  Finally,  he  affirmed  the  succession  of  the  throne 
an  obstacle  to  progress ;  that  it  was  only  a  cause  of  civil  conflicts 
rather  than  a  cause  of  stability. 

Upon  another  occasion  he  gave  utterance  to  a  profound  saying 
which  unhappily  was  prophetic :  — 

"  The  king  at  this  moment  is  powerless :  let  us  not  wait  until  we 
have  restored  to  him  enough  power  to  make  his  fall  demand  an 
effort.  This  effort  will  be  terrible  if  the  Republic  is  brought  about 


1794.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  177 

by  revolution,  by  the  uprising  of  the  people.  If  it  is  now  organized 
by  an  all-powerful  Assembly,  the  transition  will  not  be  difficult." 

The  republican  declarations  of  this  man,  so  well  known  and  so 
respected  by  all  the  thinkers  and  learned  men  of  France  and  Europe, 
produced  a  great  effect. 

Political  discussion  was  for  a  few  hours  suspended  by  a  splendid 
ceremony  which  reunited  in  a  common  sentiment  all  the  friends  of 
the  Revolution.  It  was  the  funeral  obsequies  to  Voltaire. 

The  Assembly  had  decreed  to  this  great  man  the  same  honors  as 
to  the  mortal  relics  of  Mirabeau,  and  had  ordered  that  the  body  of 
Voltaire  be  transported  to  the  Pantheon.  It  was  judged  more  in 
conformity  with  the  solitary  genius  of  Rousseau  to  leave  his  remains 
to  repose  in  peace  among  the  waters  and  the  groves  of  Ermenon- 
ville;  but  in  the  cortege  his  statue  was  associated  with  that  of 
Voltaire.  The  whole  civil  and  military  corps,  the  Assembly  at  its 
head,  the  popular  societies,  the  electors  of  1789,  the  conquerors  of 
the  Bastille,  the  people  of  Paris  en  masse,  and  numerous  outside 
deputations,  escorted  the  colossal  car  drawn  by  twelve  white  horses 
which  bore  the  sarcophagus  surmounted  by  an  effigy  of  the  philoso- 
pher. On  a  thousand  banners  were  inscribed  as  devices  lines  taken 
from  his  works.  This  device  attracted  especial  notice  :  — 

"Les  mortals  sont  egaux  ;  ce  n'est  pas  la  naissance, 
C'est  la  seule  vertu  qui  fait  leur  difference."  * 

Musical  choirs  sang  the  "  Hymn  to  Liberty  "  Voltaire  had  written 
at  the  foot  of  the  Alps. 

The  first  stopping-place  of  the  philosopher's  coffin  was  upon 
the  ruins  of  that  tower  of  the  Bastille  where  he  had  been  im- 
prisoned in  his  youth;  another  was  before  the  house  where  he 
died,  upon  the  quay  that  bears  his  name.  His  adopted  daugh- 
ter, Madame  de  Villette,  was  waiting  here  between  the  two  daugh- 
ters of  Galas,  the  Protestant  martyr  whose  memory  he  had  avenged. 
Madame  de  Villette,  weeping,  crowned  the  statue  of  her  benefactor. 

Voltaire's  remains  were  placed  beside  those  of  Mirabeau,  and 

*  "  Mortals  are  equal ;  't  is  not  lofty  birth, 

But  virtue  only,  that  makes  grades  of  worth." 
12 


178  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

those  of  the  great  Descartes,  the  father  of  modern  philosophy, 
against  whose  system  he  had  fought,  and  who  is  associated  with 
him  in  immortality. 

The  relics  of  Voltaire  no  longer  rest  in  the  vaults  of  the  Pan- 
theon ;  they  were  secretly  borne  away  by  sacrilegious  hands,  under 
the  Restoration. 

July  13  the  Assembly  heard  the  reading  of  the  report  made  in 
the  name  of  its  different  committees  upon  the  Varennes  affair.  The 
report,  very  lenient  toward  the  king,  concluded  with  a  statement 
that  Louis  XVI.  had  not  absolutely  violated  the  Constitution ;  that 
his  own  inviolability  would  not  allow  of  his  being  brought  to  trial ; 
and  that  it  was  necessary  to  prosecute  only  Bouille  and  his  accom- 
plices, who  had  abused  the  king's  confidence. 

Eobespierre  demanded,  but  could  not  obtain,  an  adjournment  of 
the  decision  until  after  mature  deliberation.  Petion  said  that,  in 
order  to  be  inviolable,  the  king  must  be  impeccable ;  he  contended 
that  the  king  ought  to  be  tried  either  by  the  National  Assembly  or 
by  a  convention  chosen  for  that  purpose. 

That  evening,  at  the  Jacobins,  Robespierre  made  an  equivocal 
discourse,  in  which  he  said  they  did  him  too  much  honor  in  calling 
him  a  republican ;  that  they  would  do  him  dishonor  in  calling  him 
a  monarchist ;  that  he  was  neither  the  one  nor  the  other ;  that  it 
was  not  his  business  to  dispute  about  words,  but  to  be  free. 

At  heart  he  did  not  wish  to  compromise  himself. 

Danton  fiercely  attacked  royal  inviolability,  and  said  that  the 
judgment  of  the  Assembly  could  very  well  be  corrected  by  that  of 
the  nation.  The  butcher  Legendre  threatened  the  committee  with 
the  rage  of  the  masses. 

The  debate  continued  in  the  Assembly  for  the  two  days  following. 

Robespierre  proposed  to  consult  the  will  of  the  nation.  The 
orators  of  the  majority  argued  that  the  king  could  not  be  put  on 
trial ;  that  his  functions  must  be  suspended  until  the  completion  of 
the  Constitution ;  that  then  it  should  be  presented  to  him,  and  that, 
if  he  did  not  accept  it,  or  should  retract  after  having  accepted  it,  he 
should  be  deposed. 


1794.]  THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY.  179 

"  The  king  will  accept,"  cried  the  Abbe  Gregoire,  then  constitu- 
tional bishop  of  Blois.  "  The  king  will  swear,  but  what  account 
will  you  make  of  his  oaths  ? " 

Gregoire  and  Buzot  repeated  Petion's  motion,  that  a  convention 
be  elected  to  try  the  king.  A  deputy  named  Salles  plead  the  king's 
cause  from  a  sentimental  point  of  view,  from  the  intentions  of  Louis 
XVI.,  his  unhappy  situation  in  the  midst  of  seditious  courtiers  in 
league  to  deceive  him.  Then  Barnave,  in  a  very  eloquent  and  very 
able  discourse,  treated  the  question  in  a  political  point  of  view ;  he 
endeavored  to  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  the  monarchy  by  con- 
founding republicanism  with  federalism, — an  error  refuted  in  advance 
by  Brissot,  —  and  combated  the  idea  of  committing  the  executive 
power  to  several  persons,  to  a  council,  as  if  this  idea  were  of  neces- 
sity linked  with  that  of  the  Republic,  and  as  if  the  Republic  could 
not  have  a  president.  He  asserted  that  it  was  time  the  Revolution 
should  be  stopped. 

La  Fayette  sustained  the  opinion  of  Barnave  and  of  Salles  in 
favor  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  demanded  that  the  discussion  be  closed. 

The  decree  proposed  by  the  committees,  which  went  no  further 
than  to  order  the  placing  upon  trial  of  Bouille  and  his  accomplices, 
was  passed  almost  unanimously ;  Robespierre,  Petion,  Buzot,  and 
three  or  four  others  voting  against  it. 

The  mob  waiting  outside  set  up  cries  of  rage  on  learning  the 
passage  of  the  decree,  and  hooted  at  the  principal  deputies  of  the 
majority  as  they  left  the  hall;  then,  dispersed  by  the  national 
guard,  the  rabble  hastened  to  the  theatres,  and  made  them  close 
as  a  sign  of  mourning. 

That  evening,  at  the  Jacobins,  Laclos,  the  principal  leader  of  the 
Orleans  party,  proposed  to  obtain  signatures  in  Paris  and  all  France 
for  the  deposition  of  the  king.  "  Let  everybody  sign,"  cried  he, 
"  women  and  children.  We  will  have  ten  million  signatures." 

Danton  approved.  Robespierre  would  have  the  nation  manifest 
its  sentiment  to  the  Assembly,  without  the  intervention  of  women 
or  minors. 

At  this  moment  the  hall  of  the  club  was  invaded  by  bands  of  out- 


180  THE  FKENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

side  people,  among  whom  were  girls  from  the  Palais  Royal,  raising 
loud  clamors  in  favor  of  the  petition.  This  was  a  stroke  planned 
by  Laclos  and  other  associates  of  Philip  of  Orleans.  In  the  midst 
of  this  tumult  the  petition  was  voted ;  Laclos  and  Brissot  were  in- 
structed to  draw  it  up.  At  the  entreaty  of  Laclos,  Brissot  took  the 
pen  and  wrote  that  the  National  Assembly,  in  suspending  and  in 
arresting  the  king,  had  recognized  the  fact  that  Louis  XVI.  had  ab- 
dicated the  throne.  "  The  petitioners,"  added  he,  "  demand  that  the 
Assembly  provide  for  the  reinstatement  of  the  king." 

"For  the  reinstatement?"  said  Laclos.  "Add,  by  all  constitu- 
tional means" 

Here  lay  the  goal  of  all  the  intrigues  of  Laclos.  Royalty  being 
in  the  Constitution,  the  constitutional  means  consisted  in  replacing 
Louis  XVI.  by  his  young  son  and  naming  a  regent.  The  brothers 
of  the  king  had  emigrated,  they  were  in  revolt  against  the  Consti- 
tution. Monsieur  had  fled  the  same  night  as  Louis  XVI.,  and  had 
gone  to  rejoin  the  Count  d'Artois  and  the  Condes  in  Belgium  on  the 
Rhine.  The  only  French  prince  who  could  now  be  called  to  the 
regency  was  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  He  had  publicly  renounced  his 
claims  in  advance  ;  but  Laclos  reckoned  that  he  could  be  easily  in- 
duced to  recall  that  decision. 

Brissot  hesitated,  then  fell  into  the  net.  Laclos  persuaded  him 
that  it  was  necessary  to  speak  of  constitutional  means,  so  that  the 
petition  might  not  be  regarded  as  seditious. 

The  petition  ended  with  a  declaration  that  the  signers  would 
never  recognize  Louis  XVI.  as  their  king,  unless  the  majority  of  the 
nation  expressed  a  wish  to  the  contrary. 

The  petition  had  been  proposed  from  interested  motives  by  the 
Orleans  cabal ;  but  it  responded  none  the  less  to  a  great  popular 
sentiment.  The  Assembly  understood  its  bearing  and  wished  to 
stop  it  short.  July  16  it  voted  a  new  decree,  affirming  that  the 
king  should  be  supposed  to  have  abdicated,  if  after  having  lent  his 
oath  to  the  Constitution  he  should  retract,  or  if  he  should  connive 
at  an  armed  attack  against  the  nation.  In  these  two  cases  he 
must  be  brought  to  trial  simply  as  a  citizen. 


1791]          THE  DAY  OF  THE  CHAMPS  DE  MARS.  181 

It  was  ordained  that  the  executive  power  be  decreed  to  Louis 
XVI.  after  he  had  accepted  the  Constitution. 

This  decree  rendered  illegal  the  petition  demanding  the  king's 
deposition.  The  Assembly  summoned  the  directors  of  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Seine  and  the  municipality  of  Paris,  enjoining  them  to 
assure  the  maintenance  of  order ;  and  also  the  public  accusers,  to 
direct  them  to  give  immediate  information  against  all  disturbers  of 
the  peace. 

The  deputies  had  found  yesterday  that  Mayor  Bailli  and  the  mu- 
nicipality were  far  too  cautious  in  their  dealings  with  the  rabble. 

During  these  deliberations  of  the  Assembly  the  petition  was 
borne  to  the  Champs  de  Mars,  so  that  the  people  might  sign  it  upon 
the  Altar  of  the  Country.  The  Cordeliers  came  in  a  body  to  learn 
the  contents  of  this  writing  sent  by  the  Jacobins.  "When  they  read 
the  words  constitutional  means,  Bonneville,  editor  of  the  Bouche  de 
Fer,  exclaimed,  "  They  are  deceiving  the  people  !  They  put  one 
king  in  place  of  another ! " 

The  Cordeliers  applauded,  and  the  offensive  words  were  erased. 
The  Jacobins  had  written,  "  We  will  no  longer  recognize  Louis  XVI." 
The  Cordeliers  added,  "  Nor  any  other  king." 

The  Cordeliers  and  the  other  individuals  present  sent  twelve  of 
their  number,  among  them  Bonneville,  to  forewarn  the  municipality 
of  their  intention  to  convoke  the  people  anew  the  next  day,  at  the 
Champs  de  Mars,  to  sign  the  petition.  The  law  prescribed  that  such 
a  declaration  be  made  the  day  before  public  reunions.  Written  per- 
mission was  given  to  the  envoys. 

Other  delegates  from  the  Champs  de  Mars  had  gone  to  report  the 
petition  to  the  Jacobins,  so  that  there  might  be  no  misunderstanding. 
Laclos  cried  out  against  the  suppression  of  the  constitutional  means. 
This  term  was  not  reinserted ;  but  the  Jacobins  did  more :  they  with- 
drew the  petition.  In  the  interval  they  had  been  informed  of  the 
Assembly's  new  decree.  Robespierre  declared  that  he  would  obey 
the  law,  but  at  the  same  time  he  drew  a  most  exaggerated  and 
frightful  picture  of  the  conduct  of  the  Assembly  and  its  committees. 

Brissot,  in  his  journal,  "The  French  Patriot,"  while  affirming 


182  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

"our  legislators  have  dishonored  themselves,"  wrote  that  they  must 
be  obeyed. 

The  leaders  of  the  Cordeliers  themselves  hesitated  before  the  new 
decree.  Camille  Desrnoulins,  who  had  written  terrible  articles 
against  the  faithless  representatives,  withdrew  into  the  country  with 
Danton,  to  avoid  the  responsibility  of  a  conflict. 

Unhappily,  a  movement  once  started  cannot  be  arrested  at  will ; 
the  public  knew  that  the  petitioners  had  been  sanctioned  by  the 
municipality,  and  many  people  took  no  account  of  the  bearing  of 
the  decree.  The  populace  would  inevitably  float  to  the  Champs  de 
Mars  the  next  day,  which  was  Sunday,  and  some  calamity  would 
happen.  There  was  something  sinister  in  the  air.  The  Revolution 
was  divided  against  itself :  constitutionals  against  republicans.  The 
advanced  party  was  exasperated  with  the  Assembly,  which  upheld 
the  king  by  equivocations  and  subterfuges,  although  it  had  tried  to 
cast  down  the  Revolution.  The  Assembly  was  exasperated  against 
the  clubs  and  the  journals.  The  national  guard  was  enraged  at  the 
insults  of  Marat  and  other  journalists,  which  stigmatized  that  body 
as  the  spies  of  La  Fayette. 

July  17  dawned  inauspiciously.  Two  men  were  discovered 
hidden  under  the  steps  of  the  Altar  of  the  Country ;  they  could  not 
justify  their  intentions.  It  was  pretended  that  they  had  sought  to 
blow  up  the  altar  with  gunpowder ;  at  this  imaginary  supposition 
furious  men  massacred  them  and  bore  their  heads  to  the  Palais 
Royal.  The  Assembly  was  very  inexactly  informed  of  this  double 
murder.  It  was  told  that  body  that  two  good  citizens  had  been 
assassinated  for  having  advised  the  people  to  respect  the  law.  This 
disposed  the  Assembly  to  rigorous  measures. 

Between  noon  and  one  o'clock  more  reliable  news  arrived.  At 
Gros-Caillon  a  man  had  fired  upon  La  Fayette ;  the  national  guards 
arrested  him.  La  Fayette,  with  imprudent  generosity,  had  him  re- 
leased. La  Fayette  pushed  on  to  the  Altar  of  the  Country.  Here 
he  found  people  engaged  in  drawing  up  a  new  petition.  They 
promised  to  disperse  peaceably  after  having  signed  it. 

Three  municipal  commissioners,  who  appeared  after  La  Fayette, 


1794.]          THE  DAY  OF   THE  CHAMPS  DE  MARS.  183 

heard  the  petition  read,  and  did  not  consider  it  illegal.  The  terms 
were  passionate,  but  not  insulting  to  the  Assembly.  That  body  was 
invited  to  reconsider  its  decree,  which  was  null  in  principle,  as 
opposed  to  the  wishes  of  the  sovereign  people,  and  null  in  form,  be- 
cause the  two  hundred  and  ninety  deputies  of  the  Eight  had  taken 
part  in  it,  although  they  had  forfeited  their  rights  as  representatives 
by  protesting  against  every  free  constitution. 

The  petition  was  covered  with  thousands  of  signatures,  among 
which  were  many  names  of  women.  The  crowd  kept  increasing, 
both  from  Paris  and  the  suburbs;  it  was  unarmed  and  not  men- 
acing. The  people  came  as  for  a  walk  with  wives  and  children. 

The  Assembly,  meantime,  remained  under  the  impression  of  the 
morning's  news.  It  believed  itself  in  peril  People  came  with 
information  that  the  mob  of  the  Champs  de  Mars  was  about  to 
march  on  the  Tuileries.  One  of  the  Lameth  brothers  (Charles),  who 
that  day  presided  over  the  Assembly,  sent  message  after  message 
to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  summon  the  municipality  to  action.  To- 
ward five  o'clock  Mayor  Bailli  and  the  municipality  decided  to 
declare  martial  law,  to  have  the  generale  beaten,  and  to  unfurl  the 
red  flag,  —  a  token  of  public  danger. 

The  three  municipal  commissioners,  returning  from  the  Champs 
de  Mars,  recounted  what  they  had  seen,  and  protested  against  any 
offensive  measures.  Bailli,  much  troubled  and  disquieted,  replied 
that  he  was  going  to  the  Champs  de  Mars  to  make  peace.  The 
municipal  authorities  set  out  on  the  march  with  La  Fayette  and 
the  national  guard.  Three  columns  of  the  national  guard  defiled 
through  the  Champs  de  Mars,  past  the  Military  School,  past  the 
Gros-Caillon  and  along  the  river-bank.  A  band  of  people,  mounted 
on  the  slope  bordering  the  Champs  de  Mars  on  the  Gros-Caillon 
side,  began  to  hoot  and  to  throw  stones.  A  pistol-shot  wounded  a 
soldier.  The  national  guard  had  the  generosity  to  fire  in  the  air. 
The  rioters  continued  to  hurl  stones. 

The  advance-guard  and  the  artillery  had  continued  to  advance, 
and  the  cavalry  deployed  rapidly,  pushing  back  the  mob.  The 
mass  of  people  gathered  around  the  Altar  and  upon  its  steps  did  not 


184  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

provoke  the  soldiers ;  and  yet  without  summons,  without  orders,  the 
ranks  of  this  same  national  guard  which  had  just  fired  into  the  air  in 
face  of  its  insulters  all  at  once  launched  forth  a  murderous  fusilade. 

Was  this  the  crime  of  men  of  party  who  wished  civil  war  at  any 
price,  or  was  it  rather  one  of  those  misunderstandings,  those  fatal 
accidents,  such  as  we  have  seen  in  our  own  day  ? 

It  is  only  too  certain  that  those  were  inoffensive  men  who 
strewed  with  their  bodies  the  steps  of  the  Altar  of  the  Country. 
A  sort  of  vertigo  turned  all  heads.  The  cannoneers  in  their  turn 
wished  to  fire  upon  the  populace,  who  fled,  raising  cries  of  terror. 
La  Fayette  intrepidly  urged  his  horse  before  the  mouth  of  a 
cannon.  The  cannoneers  paused.  Near  the  Military  School,  battal- 
ions of  the  national  guard  protected  the  flying  throng  from  the 
mounted  soldiers  who  pursued  them.  Bailli  praised  these  battal- 
ions for  their  humanity. 

At  nightfall  the  Champs  de  Mars  was  evacuated.  The  muni- 
cipality might  have  lessened  the  effect  of  this  disastrous  event :  it 
aggravated  it,  not  through  violence,  but  through  weakness.  The 
mayor,  Bailli,  allowed  himself  to  be  circumvented  by  men  of  party 
who  hoped  to  turn  to  their  profit  that  day  of  the  Champs  de  Mars. 

They  induced  him  to  come  and  read  the  next  day  before  the 
National  Assembly  an  unreliable  account,  in  which  all  the  incidents 
of  the  day  were  mixed  up  in  such  a  fashion  as  to  confound  and 
render  meditated  the  murder  of  the  two  suspected  men,  the  attack 
against  La  Fayette,  the  accumulation  of  a  band  of  rioters  on  the 
slope  of  the  Gros-Caillon,  and  the  gathering  around  the  Altar  of  the 
Country.  No  mention  was  made  of  what  the  three  commissioners 
had  said  as  to  the  peaceable  attitude  of  the  populace.  Finally, 
nothing  was  said  of  that  fact  which  would  have  been  the  justifica- 
tion of  La  Fayette  and  Bailli,  —  the  national  guards  had  fired  with- 
out orders. 

Bailli  thus  assumed  the  responsibility  of  the  blood  he  had  not 
ordered  to  be  shed.  This  weakness  or  this  misunderstood  gener- 
osity, two  years  later,  was  to  cost  him  his  life. 

The  Assembly  declared  its  approval  of  the  conduct  of  the  muni- 


1794.]          THE  DAY  OF   THE  CHAMPS   DE  MARS.  185 

cipality.  Barnave  extolled  the  courage  and  the  fidelity  of  the  na- 
tional guard.  The  Assembly  issued  a  severe  decree  against  those 
who  by  their  writings  or  their  public  discourses  had  stirred  up 
sedition. 

The  day  of  the  Champs  de  Mars  paved  the  way  for  a  fatal  future. 
It  left  after  it  implacable  resentments.  The  Assembly  accused  the 
clubs  of  having  fomented  insurrection.  The  popular  party  accused 
the  Assembly  leaders  of  having  prepared  a  massacre.  The  blood 
which  polluted  the  field  of  the  federation,  the  theatre  a  year  before 
of  the  fete  of  fraternity,  would  henceforth  separate  the  two  great 
parties  of  the  Eevolution,  constitutionals  and  republicans,  while  the 
republicans  themselves  would  subdivide  into  hostile  factions.  The 
era  of  violence  and  bloodshed  had  opened  in  the  history  of  the 
Revolution. 

This  blood  had  been  shed  for  an  impossible  end.  The  Assembly 
had  been  deceived.  To  restore  Louis  XVI.,  after  Varennes,  was  to 
devote  him  to  death,  —  him,  his  family,  and  those  who  reinstated 
him.  La  Fayette  himself  has  declared  this  in  his  Memoirs :  "  The 
departure  for  Varennes  for  all  time  deprived  the  king  of  the  con- 
fidence and  the  good-will  of  the  citizens."  This  distrust  kept 
spreading  until  the  crisis  of  the  10th  of  August. 

This  is  the  condemnation  of  the  part  taken  by  La  Fayette  and 
Bailli,  or  rather  by  the  Assembly ;  for  La  Fayette  followed  the 
majority,  against  the  dictates  of  his  heart. 

At  heart  he  regretted  the  king's  arrest ;  and  contrary  to  Robes- 
pierre, like  Roland,  like  the  most  sagacious  republicans,  he  thought 
it  would  have  been  better  to  let  the  king  escape.  The  Republic 
then  would  have  formed  itself  entirely  alone.  Neither  the  incapa- 
ble Duke  of  Orleans  nor  the  intriguers  around  him  could  have  pre- 
vented it. 

The  postmaster  Drouet,  who  was  believed  to  be  the  savior  of 
France  both  by  himself  and  others,  did  his  country  harm,  without 
wishing  it. 

Condorcet  had  seen  clearly  with  his  reason  ;  Madame  Roland  and 
Camille  Desmoulins,  with  their  impassioned  sentiment. 


186  THE   FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

The  great  Assembly  of  1789  possessed  no  longer  the  sentiment  of 
the  new  period  which  instituted  it.  Those  men  like  Mirabeau,  its 
most  powerful  genius,  were  not  to  suffer  the  final  consequences  of 
the  democratic  principles  they  had  laid  down.  They  were  not  to 
pass  beyond  the  epoch  of  transition,  —  the  epoch  of  attempts  at 
reconciliation  between  democracy  and  royalty ;  they  were  to  pause 
upon  the  threshold  of  the  new  republican  era. 

Meanwhile  the  destinies  did  not  pause.  The  Republic  was  hence- 
forth inevitable;  but  the  occasion  of  establishing  it  without  the 
shedding  of  blood,  without  scaffolds,  was  lost.  The  Eeign  of  Ter- 
ror was  in  perspective.  The  day  of  the  Champs  de  Mars  was  its 
preface. 

There  was  at  first,  after  this  unpropitious  day,  a  moment  of  dis- 
couragement in  the  popular  party.  Madame  Roland,  so  intrepid  for 
herself,  believed  all  lost  for  the  cause.  Camille  Desmoulins  ceased 
to  publish  his  journal,  after  a  spirited  farewell  number.  He  con- 
cealed himself,  and  so  did  Danton,  Marat,  and  others,  to  escape 
orders  of  arrest.  Robespierre,  for  a  short  time  menaced  with  prose- 
cution, caused  an  address  to  be  voted  at  the  Jacobins,  in  which  he 
extolled  the  wisdom,  the  firmness,  the  justice  of  this  very  Assembly 
which  he  had  hitherto  so  violently  attacked,  and  in  which  he 
affirmed  the  respect  of  the  Jacobins  for  the  representatives  of  the 
nation  and  for  their  fidelity  to  the  Constitution. 

Some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Assembly  had  proposed  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  clubs ;  but  Duport,  the  founder  of  the  Jacobins,  was 
opposed  to  this.  He  hoped  to  recommence  using  the  clubs  for  the 
profit  of  the  constitutionals,  and  at  this  time  he  and  his  friends 
tried  to  dissolve  and  reconstitiite  the  Jacobins. 

July  16,  the  time  of  the  petition  of  Laclos,  the  most  of  the  depu- 
ties belonging  to  the  Jacobins,  and  members  of  their  committee 
of  correspondence,  had  left  their  club  to  form  a  new  one  at  the 
Feuillants,  a  vast  and  sumptuous  convent  extending  between  the 
garden  of  the  Tuileries  and  the  Rue  Saint-Honor^,  upon  the  site  of 
the  present  Rue  Rivoli,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  Place  Vendome. 

The  Jacobins  made  an  attempt  at  reconciliation.    The  Feuillants, 


1794.]          THE  DAY  OF  THE  CHAMPS  DE  MARS.  187 

as  the  new  club  was  named,  replied  that  they  would  admit  only 
such  Jacobins  as  would  accept  their  new  regulations.  One  of  these 
regulations  was  that  no  one  be  received  who  was  not  a  citoyen  actif, 
that  is  to  say,  who  did  not  pay  a  direct  impost. 

Robespierre  turned  this  rule  against  the  Feuillants  in  an  address 
to  the  provincial  societies  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  Jacobins. 
The  reason  of  the  separation  of  the  two  clubs  was  here  declared  to 
be  the  exclusion  of  the  poor  by  the  Feuillants.  The  Jacobins,  on 
their  part,  adopted  new  rules  which  purified  and  reorganized  their 
society.  In  these  changes  Robespierre  had  a  leading  hand. 

The  Feuillants  had  also  written  to  these  societies.  They  said 
they  designed  to  limit  themselves  to  preparations  in  their  discus- 
sions for  the  labors  of  the  National  Assembly,  without  passing  any 
vote. 

This  would  have  been  well  when  the  Assembly  was  beginning, 
but  not  so  now,  when  it  was  about  to  end.  The  club  actually  had 
other  ends  in  view. 

The  responses  of  the  provincial  societies  arrived  one  after  the 
other  in  the  last  days  of  July  and  the  first  of  August  A  large 
number  implored  the  Feuillants  and  the  Jacobins  to  reunite.  Oth- 
ers, more  numerous  still,  while  deploring  the  separation,  protested 
that  they  remained  inviolably  united  with  the  Jacobins.  Many 
violently  attacked  the  Feuillants,  and  reproached  the  National 
Assembly  for  tolerating  in  its  midst  the  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
five  deputies  who  had  protested  against  the  decrees  after  Varennes. 
Roland's  friends  took  the  most  active  part  in  this  movement.  Very 
few  societies  adhered  to  the  Feuillants. 

The  majority  of  the  outside  societies  pronounced  more  and  more 
against  them.  It  was  the  provinces  which  animated  Paris.  The 
Revolution  lived  and  acted  in  the  whole  body  of  France,  and  when 
the  heart  grew  sluggish  new  impulse  came  from  the  extremities. 

The  reaction  had  been  very  quickly  stayed.  The  leaders  of  the 
constitutional  party  were  much  disquieted.  They  saw  the  Jacobins 
they  had  left  gaining  new  strength  and  passing  beyond  them ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  counter-revolutionists  persisted  in  repelling 


188  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

all  their  advances,  both  in  and  out  of  the  National  Assembly.  The 
constitutionals,  had  sent  to  Brussels,  to  negotiate  with  the  emigrant 
princes,  an  able  and  insinuating  man,  the  Abbe  Louis,  who  years 
after  was  an  eminent  minister  under  the  Eestoration.  The  Abbe 
Louis  was  hooted  at  by  the  emigrant  nobles,  and  obliged  to  quit 
Brussels. 

The  counter-revolutionary  journals  redoubled  their  insults,  and 
constantly  menaced  the  Eevolution  with  foreign  arms.  After  the 
escape  of  Monsieur,  the  king's  eldest  brother,  whose  adroitness  in 
accomplishing  his  flight  had  fully  equalled  the  awkwardness  and 
imprudence  of  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette  in  arranging  their 
escape,  the  emigration  assumed  enormous  proportions.  Monsieur, 
not  having  been  able  to  turn  the  Eevolution  to  his  profit,  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  counter-revolution,  and  showed  here  a 
capacity  not  possessed  by  the  madcap  Count  d'Artois  nor  the 
courageous  but  mediocre  prince  of  Conde. 

Eeal  bureaus  of  emigration  were  established.  Nobles  were  urged, 
compelled  to  emigrate  by  signifying  to  them  that  they  would  be 
dishonored  if  they  remained,  and  that  upon  the  return  of  the 
princes  they  would  be  treated  as  plebeians.  Monsieur,  who  de- 
spised his  royal  brother  and  hated  his  sister-in-law,  thinking  only 
of  his  own  interest,  thus  incited  the  noblesse  to  desert  the  unfortu- 
nate Louis  XVI.  in  the  midst  of  dangers  into  which  he  had  precipi- 
tated himself  for  the  interests  of  the  nobility  and  the  clergy,  even 
more  than  for  those  of  royalty. 

August  17  the  National  Assembly  passed  a  decree  against  the 
emigrants  ;  but  it  was  very  moderate,  merely  tripling  the  contribu- 
tions of  absent  Frenchmen  who  should  not  return  to  the  kingdom 
within  a  month.  At  the  same  time  it  was  declared  that  no  French- 
man should  leave  the  kingdom  without  a  passport. 

Some  days  before,  the  Assembly  had  suppressed  all  the  chivalric 
orders,  all  decorations  and  distinctions  whatsoever,  save  the  military 
order  of  Saint  Louis,  to  be  maintained  for  a  time,  until  an  order 
could  be  instituted,  civic  and  at  the  same  time  military. 

The  emigrants,  if  they  detested  the  Eevolution,  had  but  little 


1794.]          THE  DAY  OF  THE  CHAMPS  DE  MARS.  189 

love  for  each  other;  court  discords  and  intrigues  had  already  re- 
commenced at  Brussels  and  at  Coblentz,  as  heretofore  at  Versailles. 
Calonne,  that  old  minister  so  much  decried,  who  had  so  greatly 
contributed  to  hastening  the  fall  of  the  Ancient  Eegime,  ruled 
the  Count  d'Artois  and  caballed  against  Monsieur. 

The  emigrants  were  agreed  only  upon  one  point:  this  was  to 
urge  the  foreign  powers  to  make  war  on  the  Eevolution. 

All  the  Continental  courts  had  the  same  hostility  against  the 
Eevolution ;  but  the  difficulty  was  to  unite  these  diverse  interests 
and  ambitions  into  a  common  action. 

As  we  have  said,  the  powers  were  on  the  verge  of  a  general  war 
in  the  spring  of  1791 ;  but  they  had  decided  to  negotiate.  Now 
their  mutual  relations  were  as  follows  :  — 

The  question  which  most  directly  affected  France  was  the  union 
or  the  disunion  of  Austria  and  Prussia:  war  between  these  two 
powers  would  have  been  her  security ;  their  union  was  to  be  her 
peril  The  ambition  of  Prussia  was  turned  toward  Poland ;  that  of 
Austria,  toward  Turkey.  By  the  treaty  of  Eeichenbach,  July,  1790, 
each  had  promised  that  the  one  should  not  invade  these  frontiers 
without  the  other.  Prussia  had  guaranteed  to  Austria  the  pres- 
ervation of  Belgium,  and  then  Austria  had  signed  a  truce  with 
Turkey,  leaving  Eussia  alone  to  pursue  the  war  against  the  Turks. 

The  Emperor  Leopold  had  views  quite  opposed  to  those  of  his 
brother  and  predecessor,  Joseph  II.  Leopold  regarded  the  alliance 
of  Joseph  II.  with  Eussia  against  the  Turks  as  an  error,  because  he 
saw  that  the  two  empires  could  never  agree  as  to  the  possession  of 
the  mouths  of  the  Danube ;  and  it  seemed  that  at  heart  he  consid- 
ered the  dismemberment  of  Poland  as  an  error  of  his  brother's  no 
less  grave  than  the  first.  He  at  least  wished  that  Poland  should  be 
no  further  dismembered,  and  he  had  a  weak  desire  to  uplift  and  to 
save  this  people. 

In  1790  Poland  had  signed  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Prussia, 
then  in  a  quarrel  with  Eussia ;  but  the  Poles  justly  suspected  the 
designs  of  Prussia  upon  the  important  cities  Thorn  and  Dantzic, 
which  Prussia  desired  to  appropriate,  although  she  had  promised 
Austria  quite  the  contrary. 


190  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

The  Poles  inclined  to  give  up  the  alliance  of  Prussia  for  that  of 
the  Emperor  Leopold.  May  3,  1791,  King  Stanislas  Poniatowski 
proposed  and  caused  to  be  adopted  at  the  Diet  of  Warsaw  a  new 
constitution  which  would  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  peasants, 
confer  political  rights  upon  the  citizens,  and  abolish  the  anarchical 
institution  called  Xiberum-veto,  through  which  a  single  opposing 
voice  thwarted  all  the  resolutions  of  an  assembly;  finally,  this 
constitution  was  to  decree  that,  after  the  death  of  the  reigning  king, 
the  crown  should  descend  by  hereditary  succession  to  the  Electoral 
House  of  Saxony. 

By  the  principles  of  this  constitution  the  nobility  was  no  longer 
supreme  in  Poland ;  the  citizen  had  arrived,  and  preparations  were 
being  made  for  the  coming  of  the  peasant.  The  succession  of  the 
crown  was  itself  progress ;  for  hereditary  royalty,  which  is  no  longer 
suited  to  people  who  have  arrived  at  democracy,  is  indispensable  to 
societies  still  ruled  by  a  hereditary  nobility. 

This  constitution  might  save  Poland  if  it  could  be  firmly  estab- 
lished there.  The  Emperor  Leopold  approved  of  it ;  the  Prussian 
government,  which  it  greatly  displeased,  feigned  approval,  because  it 
dared  not  break  with  Poland  nor  with  Austria,  not  being  yet  very 
sure  of  making  terms  with  Eussia. 

The  king  of  Prussia,  Frederic  William,  proposed  to  the  Emperor 
an  interview  at  Pilnitz  in  Saxony ;  and  Leopold  promised  to  unite 
with  Frederic  William  in  all  that  concerned  the  affairs  of  France 
and  Poland,  and  upon  the  means  of  leading  the  other  powers  to  a 
common  intervention  against  the  French  Eevolution.  Meantime, 
Leopold  would  endeavor  to  prevail  upon  the  czarina  of  Eussia  to 
make  peace  with  the  Turks. 

This  happened  at  the  very  moment  of  the  Varennes  flight. 

At  the  time  of  the  flight  of  Louis  XVI.  the  Emperor  Leopold  was 
at  Padua,  upon  Venetian  territory.  From  false  reports,  until  July  5 
he  believed  in  the  success  of  this  flight,  which  had  been  arrested 
on  the  21st  of  June.  So  slow  were  communications  in  that  day ! 
Believing  his  sister  and  his  brother-in-law  safe  at  Brussels,  he  had 
written  to  them  that  he  would  place  soldiers  and  money  at  their 


1794.]  THE   DECLARATION  OF   PILNITZ.  191 

disposal  He  had  asked  armed  assistance  from  the  kings  of  Spain 
and  Sardinia,  and  was  preparing  to  demand  also  the  assistance  of 
the  Swiss  cantons  from  the  German  Diet  and  the  king  of  Prussia. 

July  6,  being  undeceived  as  to  the  success  of  the  escape,  he 
despatched  to  the  other  princes  a  circular,  in  which  he  invited  them 
to  unite  with  him  in  declaring  to  France  :  — 

"  That  they  demanded  the  restoration  to  liberty  of  Louis  XVL 
and  his  family ; 

"  That  they  would  unite  heartily  to  avenge  all  attempts  which 
might  hereafter  be  committed  against  the  liberty,  the  honor,  and  the 
safety  of  the  king,  the  queen,  and  the  royal  family ; 

"  That  they  would  recognize  as  constitutional  laws  legitimately 
established  in  France  only  such  as  were  ratified  by  the  voluntary 
consent  of  the  king,  enjoying  perfect  liberty ; 

"  But  that,  on  the  contrary,  they  wrould  in  concert  employ  all  the 
means  in  their  power  to  put  an  end  to  the  scandal  of  a  usurpation 
of  authority  which  bore  the  character  of  an  open  revolt,  whose  fatal 
example  it  behooved  all  governments  to  terminate." 

An  envoy  of  the  king  of  Prussia  signed,  July  25,  at  Vienna,  a 
preliminary  treaty  with  Austria  upon  the  terms  indicated  in  Leo- 
pold's circular. 

The  united  efforts  of  Leopold  and  the  three  confederate  powers, 
England,  Prussia,  and  Holland,  prevailed  with  the  czarina.  Cath- 
erine II.  accepted  moderate  conditions  of  peace  with  the  Turkish 
Empire.  She  contented  herself  with  the  cession  of  Oczakow  and  a 
piece  of  territory  between  the  Dniester  and  the  Bog.  The  treaty  of 
peace  between  Austria,  Russia,  and  Turkey  was  signed  during  the 
first  two  weeks  of  August. 

It  was  a  murderous  peace,  which  prepared  the  way  for  the  de- 
struction of  Poland  and  the  stupendous  war  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution. Catherine  II.  had  changed  her  policy.  Abandoned  by 
Austria  and  thwarted  in  her  projects  upon  the  Orient  by  England 
and  Prussia,  she  for  the  moment  let  go  her  hold  on  Turkey  to  throw 
herself  anew  upon  Poland  by  reconciling  herself  with  Prussia,  and 
to  mar  the  plans  of  Leopold  in  favor  of  the  Poles. 


192  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

The  news  of  the  peace  of  the  Orient  overwhelmed  the  emigrants 
•with  joy.  They  fancied  they  already  saw  the  armies  of  the  coalition 
on  the  march. 

Displeased  because  Leopold  and  Frederic  William  had  not  acted 
immediately,  without  waiting  for  the  others,  and  especially  irritated 
at  the  slowness  of  Leopold,  they  placed  their  entire  confidence  in 
Catherine  II.  and  in  the  king  of  Sweden.  These  two  sovereigns 
had  peremptorily  broken  off  all  diplomatic  relations  with  the  revolu- 
tionary French  government,  and  accredited  ambassadors  to  the  prin- 
cipal emigrants  at  Coblentz,  as  if  they  represented  the  legitimate 
government  of  France.  Marie  Antoinette  had  sent  a  sword  of  gold 
to  the  king  of  Sweden,  with  this  device  :  For  the  defence  of  the 
oppressed.  Gustavus  III.  had  returned  to  Sweden  to  perfect  his 
preparations,  and  offered  to  make  a  descent  into  Normandy  with 
a  Swedish  and  Russian  army.  The  Norman  nobility  summoned 
him. 

But  Catherine  II.  was  deceiving  the  emigrants ;  she  made  all  this 
uproar  against  the  French  Revolution  only  to  mask  her  designs  upon 
Poland,  and  to  compromise  Austria  with  France. 

Negotiations  between  Austria  and  Prussia  continued.  Leopold's 
ambassador  had  proposed  to  Frederic  William  to  cease  all  relations 
with  France,  if  the  National  Assembly  did  not  stop  short  in  the 
path  upon  which  it  had  entered,  and  to  assemble  a  congress  of  the 
European  powers  to  deliberate  upon  the  future  constitution  of 
France  in  case  they  should  be  obliged  to  resort  to  armed  interven- 
tion. Austria  desired  a  mutual  engagement  that  neither  should 
aggrandize  itself  at  the  expense  of  French  territory.  Prussia  re- 
fused to  agree  to  this  renunciation,  unless  they  failed  completely 
in  re-establishing  the  government  of  Louis  XVI.  In  case  of  success 
she  demanded  to  know  in  advance  what  would  be  done  with  Alsace 
and  Lorraine. 

The  Prussian  ministers  would  have  deterred  their  king  from  a  too 
hasty  agreement  if  he  had  been  disposed  to  make  it.  Leopold,  on 
his  part,  felt  great  hesitation,  from  the  very  fact  of  his  secret  corre- 
spondence with  Marie  Antoinette  and  Louis  XVI. 


1794.]  THE  DECLARATION  OF  PILNITZ.  193 

Louis  XVI.,  towards  the  first  of  July,  had  succeeded  in  sending  a 
note  to  the  emperor,  in  which  he  said  that,  arrested  by  the  seditious, 
and  a  prisoner  in  Paris,  he  had  resolved  to  make  known  his  situa- 
tion to  Europe,  and  he  did  not  doubt  that  the  emperor,  his  brother-in- 
law,  would  come  to  the  relief  of  the  king  and  the  kingdom  of  France. 

July  30  Marie  Antoinette  had  written  her  brother  a  letter  op- 
posed to  war,  and  favorable  to  an  agreement  with  the  constitutional 
party;  but  a  counter-letter,  despatched  the  next  day,  forewarned 
Leopold  that  she  had  written  under  the  dictation  of  party  leaders 
with  whom  she  had  secret  relations.  "  I  should  feel  myself  humili- 
ated," added  she,  "  if  I  did  not  hope  that  my  brother  would  con- 
sider that,  in  my  position,  I  am  obliged  to  do  and  to  write  what  is 
demanded  of  me." 

And  yet  she  confessed  that  she  had  reason  to  be  content  with 
these  party  leaders,  especially  with  Barnave  and  Alexandre  de  La- 
meth ;  that  she  saw  in  them  frankness,  strength,  and  a  desire  to 
re-establish  the  royal  authority. 

She  was  personally  reconciled  with  the  principal  leaders  of  the 
constitutionals,  but  not  at  all  with  the  Revolution  nor  the  Consti- 
tution. 

She  wished  neither  such  a  constitution  as  the  Assembly  had 
adopted,  nor  even  a  constitution  with  two  chambers,  a  system  to 
which  the  constitutional  leaders  had  been  disposed  to  return. 

The  constitutional  leaders,  at  the  same  time  they  had  made  the 
queen  write  to  her  brother,  had  instructed  the  French  ambassador 
at  Vienna  to  hand  the  emperor  a  note  in  which  they  represented  to 
him  that  every  foreign  attempt  upon  the  kingdom,  instead  of  serv- 
ing the  king,  would  ruin  him ;  that,  as  for  them,  far  from  wishing 
to  overthrow  the  throne,  they  sought  only  to  agree  with  the  king 
upon  conditions  in  unison  with  the  legitimate  demands  of  public 
opinion. 

They  sought  thus  to  maintain  peace  while  putting  the  country  in 
a  state  of  defence.     The  Assembly  arranged  for  the  repair  of  fron- 
tier fortresses,  and  ordered  the  mobilization  of  almost  one  hundred 
thousand  national  guards  (July  22,  1791). 
13 


194  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

The  emperor  replied  to  his  sister  that  the  European  powers, 
obliged  to  save  all  Europe  from  revolt  and  anarchy,  could  recognize 
the  French  Constitution  only  when  it  had  been  given  a  character 
sufficiently  monarchical  (August  17  to  20). 

His  sister  was  in  full  accord  with  him,  for  in  her  letters  she 
declared  the  Constitution  absurd  and  monstrous,  and  expressed  the 
wish  that  it  might  be  overthrown  as  soon  as  possible;  but  she 
judged  it  essential  that  the  emigrants,  especially  the  king's  brothers, 
remain  in  the  background,  and  the  foreign  powers  act  alone.  She 
meant  by  this  that  the  powers  should  negotiate  with  arms  in  their 
hands,  without  entering  France. 

She  considered  it  impossible  for  the  king  to  refuse  to  accept  the 
Constitution.  "  It  only  remains  for  us,"  wrote  she,  "  to  lull  them  to 
sleep  [the  members  of  the  Assembly]  and  to  give  them  confidence 
in  us  that  we  may  the  better  thwart  them  afterward "  (August  21 
to  26).  She  was  far  more  severe  upon  the  emigrants  than  upon  the 
Assembly.  "  You  know,"  she  added,  "  their  bad  words  and  their 
bad  intentions.  These  cowards,  after  having  abandoned  us,  would 
demand  that  we  alone  be  exposed  and  alone  serve  all  their  in- 
terests." 

While  the  queen  was  engaging  the  emperor  to  hold  back  the 
king's  brothers,  "  surrounded  and  led,"  she  wrote,  "  by  ambitious 
men  who  will  win  them,"  Monsieur  had  in  his  pocket  full  powers 
from  Louis  XVI.,  despatched  July  11.  All  was  incoherence  and 
contradiction  around  Louis  XVI. 

As  the  time  fixed  for  the  interview  between  the  emperor  and  the 
king  of  Prussia  approached,  Count  d'Artois  hastened  to  Vienna  to 
endeavor  to  decide  Leopold  upon  immediate  war,  offering,  so  say 
the  German  historians,  to  cede  Lorraine  to  him.  Leopold  promised 
nothing.  Count  d'Artois  followed  him  to  Pilnitz,  where  the  emi- 
grant General  Bouille  had  come  to  present  to  the  king  of  Prussia  a 
plan  for  the  invasion  of  France. 

Count  d'Artois  presented  to  Leopold  and  to  Frederic  William 
a  memorial,  in  which  the  emigrant  princes  proposed  to  publish  a 
manifesto  declaring  null  all  the  acts  of  the  National  Assembly,  and 


•••-••••/•'  ''•'••  \\ •'••'• 
BARON  MALOUET. 


1794.]  THE  DECLARATION  OF  PILNITZ.  195 

that  the  sanction  Louis  XVI.  had  given  them  was  extorted  by  force 
or  stratagem.  Monsieur  would  take  the  title  of  regent,  would 
announce  to  the  nation  the  intervention  of  the  united  powers,  and 
render  the  inhabitants  of  Paris  responsible,  under  penalty  of  death, 
for  the  safety  of  the  royal  family. 

Leopold  was  far  from  entering  into  these  plans.  He  placed  small 
reliance  on  the  emigrants,  and  greatly  feared  lest  war  might  cost 
him  Belgium  and  imperil  the  life  of  his  sister,  Marie  Antoinette. 
And  besides,  he  felt  that  war  might  compromise  his  projects  in 
regard  to  Poland.  He  influenced  the  king  of  Prussia  to  resort  to 
delays  and  negotiations,  and  in  accord  with  him  rejected  Count 
d'Artois's  plan. 

Count  d'Artois,  Calonne,  and  Bouille  made  desperate  efforts  to 
obtain  something  of  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  Prussia.  Leo- 
pold and  Frederic  William  paused  finally  at  the  following  declara- 
tion :  — 

August  27- 

"His  Majesty  the  Emperor,  and  his  Majesty  the  king  of  Prussia, 
having  heard  the  desires  and  the  representations  of  Monsieur  and  of  the 
Count  d'Artois,  declare  conjointly  that  they  regard  the  actual  situation  of 
his  Majesty  the  king  of  France  as  a  subject  of  common  interest  to  all  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe.  They  hope  that  this  interest  cannot  fail  to  be  rec- 
ognized by  the  powers  whose  assistance  is  demanded,  and  consequently 
they  will  not  refuse,  with  their  aforesaid  Majesties,  tbe  most  efficacious 
means  of  placing  the  king  of  France  in  a  position  to  confirm,  in  the  most 
perfect  personal  freedom,  the  principles  of  a  monarchical  government 
equally  suitable  to  the  rights  of  sovereigns  and  the  well-being  of  French- 
men. Then,  and  in  this  case,  their  aforesaid  Majesties  have  decided  to 
act  promptly,  and  in  mutual  accord,  with  the  forces  requisite  to  obtain  the 
proposed  and  common  end.  Meantime  they  will  give  their  soldiers  suck 
orders  that  they  may  be  at  hand  ready  to  proceed  to  action." 

The  last  sentence,  which  seemed  to  announce  an  approaching 
entrance  into  the  field,  had  been  obtained  through  the  solicitations 
of  the  adroit  and  intriguing  Calonne ;  but  that  very  evening  Leo- 
pold wrote  to  his  prime-minister,  old  Kaunitz,  a  great  partisan  of 


196  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

peace,  that  he  had  made  no  serious  engagement ;  that  he  had  prom- 
ised to  act  only  in  the  event  that  the  powers  whose  assistance  had 
been  demanded  should  grant  it;  and  that  if  England  failed  him, 
that  event  would  no  longer  exist. 

But  he  was  sure  that  England  would  fail  him.  And  so  that 
famous  declaration  of  Pilnitz,  which  was  to  be  the  starting-point  of 
the  great  war  of  the  Revolution,  was  the  work  of  the  king  of  Prus- 
sia, a  prince  in  no  way  decided  upon  war,  and  of  another  prince,  the 
emperor,  who  did  not  wish  war  at  all.  Leopold  did  not  desire  war, 
but  he  did  everything  to  render  it  inevitable.  France  could  not 
know  his  thoughts,  it  could  only  know  his  words.  The  menace  of 
armed  intervention,  expressed  both  in  his  circular  of  July  6  and  in 
the  declaration  of  Pilnitz,  obliged  France  to  put  herself  in  a  state 
of  defence,  and  authorized  her  to  assume  the  defensive  if  she  judged 
it  necessary  to  anticipate  the  attack  announced  to  her. 

And  besides,  Leopold,  as  we  shall  soon  show,  on  account  of  the 
Germanic  Empire,  and  aside  from  all  considerations  for  the  person 
and  the  authority  of  Louis  XVI.,  maintained  pretensions  wholly 
incompatible  with  peace. 

The  effect  of  the  declaration  of  Pilnitz  was  quite  the  contrary  of 
what  Leopold  was  hoping.  The  Revolution  was  exasperated  instead 
of  being  frightened,  and  advanced  instead  of  receding.  At  the  very 
moment  when  menaced  by  foreign  power  it  gave  a  grand  proof  of 
its  strength  and  of  its  self-confidence.  The  sale  of  the  national 
estates,  the  ancient  possessions  of  the  clergy,  had  at  first  been  slow 
enough.  March  24,  1791,  the  sales  had  amounted  to  only  one 
hundred  and  eighty  millions.  April  27,  the  Assembly  granted  to 
purchasers  a  new  delay  of  eight  months  for  the  first  payments. 
This  facility  of  payment  induced  the  country  people  to  purchase. 
August  26  the  sale  had  reached  a  billion,  and  amounted  to  perhaps 
two  and  a  half  millions  daily.  Democracy  took  possession  of  the 
soil  of  France,  and  thus  responded  iii  advance  to  the  declaration  of 
Pilnitz. 

Jacobin  societies  were  at  the  same  time  multiplying.  Six  hun- 
dred were  founded  in  August  and  September.  All  the  new  societies 


1794.]  THE  DECLARATION  OF  PILNITZ.  197 

adhered  to  the  Jacobins  of  Paris.  Jacobins  and  purchasers  of  the 
national  estates  everywhere  made  common  cause  to  defend  the 
Revolution  to  the  death. 

The  National  Assembly,  in  endeavoring  to  avert  war  and  decree- 
ing measures  for  defence,  finished  the  great  work  it  had  undertaken 
of  organizing  and  establishing  the  Revolution.  It  then  occupied 
itself  in  arranging  the  divers  laws  it  had  drawn  up  during  the  course 
of  events.  They  were  classified  methodically  in  the  order  of  their 
passage. 

There  had  been  much  protest  against  the  decrees  imposing  the 
payment  of  a  silver  mark  as  a  condition  of  eligibility  to  the  office  of 
deputy.  La  Fayette  showed  the  absurdity  of  this  decree.  "  Jean 
Jacques  Eousseau,"  cried  he,  "  could  not  have  been  a  member  of  the 
Assembly." 

It  was  proposed  to  suppress  every  condition  as  to  the  eligibility 
of  representatives,  but  to  maintain  the  condition  of  three  days'  labor 
for  electors  of  the  first  degree.  A  contribution  equal  to  forty  days' 
labor  was  required  for  electors  of  the  second  degree. 

Eobespierre  and  Gregoire  energetically  opposed  this  proposition. 
They  wished  the  ballot  to  be  universal  The  Assembly  did  not 
yield ;  but  for  the  contribution  demanded  for  electors  of  the  second 
degree  it  substituted  the  condition  of  being  proprietor  or  tenant  of 
an  estate  valued,  according  to  location,  at  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  to  two  hundred  days'  labor,  or,  finally,  the  being  farmer  or 
tenant  of  an  estate  whose  revenue  would  equal  four  hundred  days' 
labor. 

The  citoyens  actifs,  or  electors  of  the  first  degree,  numbered  from 
three  -  to  four  millions  ;  those  eligible  to  the  second  degree  .were 
more  numerous,  but  it  was  difficult  to  estimate  their  number.  This 
was  the  demi-democracy.  An  article  proposed  by  the  committee 
declared  that  the  royal  family  could  not  exercise  the  rights  of  the 
citoyen  actif ;  this  was  to  establish  that  outside  the  king  there 
existed  princes  who  had  a  position  apart  from  the  rest  of  the 
nation. 

Philippe  of  Orleans,  no  longer  called  the  Duke  of  Orleans  since 


198  THE  FKENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

the  abolition  of  titles,  protested  and  declared  that  he  would  re- 
nounce his  rights  as  a  member  of  the  reigning  dynasty  rather  than 
the  rights  of  a  French  citizen. 

He  was  applauded  by  the  Assembly  and  by  the  tribunes.  He 
was  trying  to  recover  his  popularity,  aided  by  his  eldest  son,  a  sen- 
sible, energetic  young  man,  who  had  received  from  the  Jacobins  a 
civic  crown  for  having  saved  the  life  of  a  young  person  who  was 
drowning.  This  young  man  was  to  become  the  king,  Louis  Philippe. 

When  the  Assembly  arrived  at  the  important  question  of  revising 
the  Constitution,  a  deputy  proposed  that  the  Constitution  should 
not  be  revised  for  thirty  years. 

La  Fayette  demanded  that  they  pass  on  without  discussing  this 
proposition,  because  it  attacked  the  sovereign  right  of  the  French 
people  to  modify  the  form  of  their  government. 

The  Assembly  decided  that  when  three  successive  legislatures 
should  have  demanded  the  change  of  an  article  of  the  Constitution, 
the  fourth  legislature  should  deliberate  upon  this  change. 

The  Assembly  declared  that  the  nation  had  the  imprescriptible 
right  to  revise  the  Constitution  whenever  it  pleased,  but  that  it 
was  for  its  interest  to  suspend  the  exercise  of  this  right  for  thirty 
years. 

The  year  was  not  to  close  before  the  Constitution  would  be 
crumbling  away! 

Malouet  in  vain  renewed  his  attempts  to  have  the  Constitution 
modified  in  a  monarchical  sense,  and  to  have  the  measures  against 
emigrants  and  refractory  priests  repealed.  The  Eight,  which  urged 
on  the  worst  and  rejected  all  conciliation,  left  him  alone. 

La  Fayette  meantime  succeeded  in  having  the  decrees  relative  to 
the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy  transferred  to  the  class  of  ordi- 
nary, and  not  of  constitutional  laws.  He  thought  that  the  hope  of 
obtaining  from  an  approaching  legislature  the  modification  of  these 
laws  would  allay  the  scruples  of  the  king  as  to  the  acceptance  of 
the  Constitution ;  but  as  to  the  attributes  of  the  executive  power, 
the  Assembly  conceded  nothing. 

Robespierre,  in  terms  of  extreme   violence,  defied  any  person, 


1794.]  COMPLETION  OF   THE  CONSTITUTION.  199 

whoever  he  might  be,  to  make  a  compromise  with  the  court,  and 
demanded  that  whosoever  dared  compound  with  the  executive 
power  upon  an  article  of  the  Constitution  should  be  declared  a 
traitor  to  the  country.  Duport,  whom  Robespierre  meant  especially 
to  defy,  did  not  answer;  neither  did  the  Lameths  nor  Barnave 
(September  1,  1791).  The  Jacobins  were  no  longer  at  the  morrow 
of  that  day  of  the  Champs  de  Mars  ! 

The  revision  ended  on  the  3d  of  September.  A  great  deputation 
bore  the  Constitution  to  the  king.  It  was  Thouret,  one  of  its  prin- 
cipal authors,  who  presented  it  to  Louis  XVI.  The  king  promised 
an  immediate  response,  and  declared  that  he  had  decided  to  remain 
in  Paris. 

Next  day  the  Tuileries  were  opened,  and  the  watchwords  of  the 
national  guard  revoked.  The  king  and  queen  were  restored  to  full 
liberty.  The  king  was  well  received  by  the  public  when  he  went 
to  mass  at  the  palace  chapel. 

Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette  were  besieged  by  the  most 
contradictory  advice.  The  Abb^  Mauri,  the  violent  leader  of  the 
Eight,  and  Burke,  the  famous  Irish  orator  and  publicist,  who  had 
written  so  impassioned  a  book  against  the  Revolution,  conjured  the 
king  and  queen  not  to  accept  the  Constitution.  Burke  urged  Marie 
Antoinette  to  defend  the  cause  of  all  sovereigns  indissolubly  linked 
with  hers.  "  Firmness  alone,"  wrote  he,  "  will  save  you." 

No  one  did  more  than  this  foreigner  to  urge  on  the  king  and 
queen  to  their  ruin. 

The  Austrian  prime-minister,  the  aged  Prince  de  Kaunitz,  on 
the  contrary,  advised  Louis  XVI.  to  accept.  This  was  also  the  ad- 
vice of  the  old  minister  Malesherbes,  the  friend  of  Rousseau  and 
of  Turgot. 

Malouet  counselled  a  middle  course :  to  accept  provisionally, 
pointing  out  the  defects  of  the  Constitution,  and  to  wait  until  the 
nation  had  been  called  upon  to  declare  itself. 

Marie  Antoinette  had  a  secret  interview  with  Barnave,  as  she  had, 
the  year  before,  had  one  with  Mirabeau. 

September  13  Louis  XVI.  sent  his  acceptance  to  the  Assembly. 


200  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

In  his  message  he  expressed  himself  with  more  dignity  than  he  had 
done  in  his  protest,  written  at  the  moment  of  his  flight.  Here  he 
explained  his  conduct  as  best  he  could.  He  affirmed  that  he  had 
"withdrawn"  from  Paris  only  because  at  that  moment  he  had  lost 
the  hope  of  seeing  order  and  respect  for  the  law  re-established;  that 
since  then  the  Assembly,  like  himself,  had  been  impressed  with  the 
necessity  of  repressing  disorder;  that  it  had  modified  certain  ar- 
rangements of  the  Constitution,  and  had  determined  that  in  some 
of  its  forms  it  should  be  revised ;  that,  finally,  the  wishes  of  the 
people  in  favor  of  the  Constitution  were  no  longer  doubtful  in  his 
eyes.  He  then  promised  to  maintain  it  within  and  to  defend  it 
from  attacks  without. 

He  made  only  a  few  reservations  as  to  executive  and  administra- 
tive methods,  which  did  not  appear  to  him  to  have  all  the  energy 
required,  but  he  admitted  that  experience  should  be  sole  judge  in 
regard  to  these. 

He  demanded  the  concurrence  of  the  authorities  against  disorder 
and  anarchy,  and  oblivion  of  the  past  in  a  general  reconciliation. 

The  royal  message  was  loudly  applauded. 

Upon  La  Fayette's  motion,  the  Assembly  decreed  the  setting  at 
liberty  of  all  persons  detained  on  the  occasion  of  the  king's  depart- 
ure, the  abolition  of  proceedings  in  regard  to  revolutionary  events, 
the  suppression  of  passports  and  all  hindrances  to  free  travel. 

The  queen  declared  to  the  envoys  of  the  Assembly  that  she  and 
her  children  shared  the  king's  sentiments. 

At  this  same  session  of  September  13  the  Assembly  decreed  the 
reunion  of  Avignon  to  France,  and  also  of  the  county  or  earldom  of 
Venaisson,  both  of  which,  during  the  Middle  Ages,  had  fallen-  into 
the  hands  of  the  popes. 

A  large  majority  of  the  inhabitants  had  for  two  years  passion- 
ately demanded  this  reunion,  and  great  calamities  might  probably 
have  been  avoided  in  yielding  sooner  to  their  wishes. 

On  the  next  day,  the  14th,  the  king  went  to  the  Assembly  to 
renew  in  person  his  acceptance  of  the  Constitution.  When  Louis 
XVI.  entered,  the  Assembly  rose  in  silence.  There  was  no  longer  a 


LOUIS  XVI. 


1794.]  COMPLETION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION.  201 

throne,  but,  at  the  left  of  the  president's  arm-chair,  a  similar  arm- 
chair for  the  king.  By  this  change  in  etiquette  they  had  wished  to 
indicate  that  the  head  of  the  executive  power  was  no  longer  the 
sovereign,  but  solely  the  first  of  the  functionaries  of  the  state. 

At  sight  of  the  arm-chair  the  king  hesitated.  Still,  he  began  to 
pronounce,  standing  and  uncovered,  the  formula  of  the  oath  to  the 
Constitution,  "  I  swear  to  be  faithful  to  the  nation  and  to  the  law." 
Then,  perceiving  that  the  Assembly  had  sat  down  while  he  remained 
standing,  he  turned  pale,  and  brusquely  sat  down  in  his  turn,  before 
ending  the  formula  in  these  terms :  "  May  this  grand  and  memor- 
able epoch  be  that  of  peace,  of  union,  and  become  the  pledge  of  the 
happiness  of  the  people  and  the  prosperity  of  the  kingdom  ! "  The 
Assembly  cried,  "  Vive  le  roi ! "  The  president,  Thouret,  replied  to 
Louis  XVI.,  that  it  was  the  attachment  and  the  confidence  of 
Frenchmen  which  conferred  upon  him  the  most  beautiful  crown 
of  the  universe,  and  that  it  was  guaranteed  to  him  by  the  need 
France  would  always  have  of  hereditary  monarchy. 

The  Assembly,  in  a  body,  conducted  the  king  back  to  the  Tuile- 
ries.  This  did  not  at  all  console  Louis  XVI.  When  with  Marie 
Antoinette  he  re-entered  his  apartments,  he  cried,  sobbing,  "  What 
humiliation  !  All  is  lost,  madame ! " 

The  constitutionalists  tried  in  vain  to  produce  an  illusion.  The 
descendant  of  Louis  XIV.,  the  heir  of  absolute  monarchs,  could  not 
resign  himself  to  become  the  first  magistrate  of  a  democracy. 

The  constitutional  act  was  proclaimed  with  great  pomp  in  Paris, 
September  18,  by  the  municipality,  the  mayor  at  its  head.  The 
mayor  bore  the  Book  of  the  Law,  and  showed  it  to  the  people. 
These  were  the  last  splendors  of  Bailie*. 

In  the  evening  the  king  and  queen  were  applauded  at  the  opera, 
then  at  the  Champs-Elysees,  illuminated  with  garlands  of  fire,  ex- 
tending from  tree  to  tree  as  far  as  the  Place  de  1'fitoile. 

But  when  the  people  cried,  "  Vive  le  roi ! "  during  the  promenade, 
an  unknown  man  who  followed  the  king's  carriage  did  not  cease  to 
protest,  by  crying  out,  "  Do  not  believe  it.  Vive  la  Nation ! " 

September  30,  Louis  XVI.  went  to  pay  his  adieus  to  the  Assem- 


202  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  VIII. 

bly.  He  spoke  better  than  ordinarily,  in  simple  and  touching 
terms,  of  his  affection  for  the  people  and  his  need  of  being  loved 
by  them ;  he  reiterated,  without  reserve,  his  promise  to  faithfully 
execute  the  Constitution. 

He  saw  with  anxiety  the  breaking  up  of  this  Assembly  he  had  so 
long  regarded  as  his  enemy,  and  which  would  leave  him  alone  in 
face  of  an  obscure  and  sombre  future. 

When  the  king  had  retired,  President  Thouret  said,  "The  Na- 
tional Constituent  Assembly  declares  that  its  mission  is  ended." 

As  the  members  went  out,  the  populace  bore  away  Eobespierre 
and  Potion  in  triumph. 

"The  Assembly,"  says  La  Fayette  in  his  memoirs,  "dissolved 
voluntarily,  without  any  of  its  members  having  won  either  fortune, 
or  place,  or  titles,  or  power ;  and  we  can  truly  affirm  that  never 
was  an  association  of  men  led  by  a  truer  devotion  to  all  pertaining 
to  the  liberty  and  consequently  to  the  real  honor  of  a  nation." 

"This  Assembly,"  adds  La  Fayette  thirty  years  after,  —  "this  As- 
sembly, the  renovatrice  of  social  order,  having  to  destroy  a  vast  edifice 
of  oppression  and  abuse,  resistance  rendered  it  impossible  to  reform 
anything  without  pulling  down  all.  The  general  principles  of  the 
Constitution  it  formed,  founded  upon  the  first  rights  of  nature  and 
the  last  progressions  of  reason,  were  doubtless  very  salutary,  for, 
notwithstanding  all  that  was  afterwards  lost  by  anarchy,  by  terror- 
ism, by  the  maximum,  bankruptcy  and  civil  war,  notwithstanding  a 
terrible  conflict  against  all  Europe,  it  is  an  incontestable  truth  that 
the  agriculture,  the  industry,  the  public  instruction  of  France,  the 
ease  and  independence  of  three  quarters  of  its  population,  were 
ameliorated  to  a  degree  of  which  there  is  no  example  in  the  history 
of  any  time  or  any  portion  of  the  ancient  world." 

The  Constituent  Assembly  had  laid  low  monarchy  and  all  that 
remained  of  the  feudal  regime ;  it  had  suppressed  all  privileges,  and 
replaced  the  hierarchy  of  the  Three  Orders  by  the  civil  and  political 
unity  of  the  sovereign  nation;  it  had  enfranchised  labor  by  pro- 
claiming the  freedom  of  all  commerce  and  all  industry ;  confirmed 
property  on  its  true  basis,  upon  individual  right,  by  abolishing  the 


COMPLETION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION.  203 

abuses  usurped  in  the  name  of  property ;  humanized,  enlightened, 
and  rectified  justice,  recognized  liberty  of  thought  and  conscience, 
of  speech,  and  of  the  press. 

It  had  not  affected,  but  it  had  prepared  the  renewal  and  the 
unity  of  the  civil  laws.  It  had  not  organized  national  education, 
but  it  had  proclaimed  its  principle,  in  deciding  that  there  should  be 
established  a  system  of  public  instruction  common  to  all  citizens, 
and  gratuitous  in  regard  to  those  branches  of  learning  indispensable 
to  all  men. 

The  first  in  date  among  the  assemblies  which  have  succeeded  it 
in  France  during  eighty  years  of  revolutions,  it  remains,  despite  the 
errors  of  its  latter  days,  the  greatest  of  all  within  the  memory  of 
man. 


THE  FKENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  —  THE  ELECTIONS  OF  1791,  AND  THE 
DECLARATION  OF  WAR  AGAINST  AUSTRIA.  —  THE  GIRONDISTS.  —  THE 
QUESTION  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE. 

October,  1794,  to  April,  1797. 

nnHE  elections  for  the  new  Assembly  had  taken  place  in  the 
JL  course  of  September.  At  Paris,  the  vote  of  the  second  degree 
had  not  produced  the  same  result  as  the  direct  vote  of  the  people. 
There  had  come  from  it  more  Feuillants  than  Jacobins  or  republi- 
cans ;  and  yet  Condorcet  and  Brissot  had  been  elected,  with  many 
of  their  friends,  despite  the  violent  attacks  of  the  counter-revolu- 
tionists and  the  Feuillants  against  Brissot.  The  accusations  against 
Brissot's  probity  were  unjust;  he  was  poor  and  disinterested;  he 
could  be  accused  only  of  levity  and  of  questionable  relations  during 
his  early  agitated  and  roving  youth.  Good  and  generous,  coura- 
geously devoted  to  his  friends  and  to  liberty,  he  erred  only  through 
too  much  ardor ;  his  prodigious  activity  gave  him  the  appearance 
of  intrigue,  and  his  passion  for  the  cause  of  the  Eevolution  some- 
times carried  him  beyond  allowed  limits. 

Paris  elected  a  goodly  number  of  constitutionalists,  or  Feuillants, 
but  not  a  partisan  of  the  ancient  regime.  The  party  of  the  Right 
was  beaten  throughout  all  France,  as  in  Paris.  The  men  of  the  law, 
the  advocates,  already  so  numerous  in  the  States-General  of  1789, 
were  entirely  dominant  now.  Among  all  these  yet  unknown  names 
which  replaced  the  distinguished  names  of  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly, many  were  soon  to  become  famous  in  their  turn.  The 
departments  had  sent  Vergniaud,  Guadet,  Gensonne",  Ducas,  Isnard, 
Valaze",  Cambon,  Carnot,  Merlin  de  Thionville,  Thuriot,  Couthon, 


1794.]  THE   LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  205 

Aubert-Dubayet.  Several  of  the  sedid  not  come  from  the  bar,  and 
were  to  become  illustrious  otherwise  than  through  speech,  in  the 
administration  and  in  war. 

The  friends  of  the  chiefs  of  the  old  majority  formed  the  new 
Eight  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  which  represented  the  opinions 
of  the  ancient  constitutional  Left.  The  new  Left,  which  aspired  to  a 
republic,  was  soon  to  become  that  body  named  the  Girondin  party, 
because  its  principal  group  was  the  deputation  from  Bordeaux,  all 
brilliant  with  youth,  with  talent,  with  valor  and  patriotic  ardor. 
The  Girondins  were,  so  to  speak,  the  flower  of  the  Revolution. 

Between  the  Left  and  the  Eight  there  was  a  numerous  body 
whose  opinions,  yet  uncertain  upon  many  points,  nevertheless  tended 
to  follow  the  current  of  the  Revolution. 

The  Assembly  opened  October  1.  It  numbered  seven  hundred 
and  thirty  members,  instead  of  the  twelve  hundred  of  the  Constit- 
uent Assembly.*  The  most  striking  thing  in  its  aspect  was  the 
extreme  youth  of  its  members.  There  were  many  deputies  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  years  of  age.  It  was  a  new  generation  of  men 
who  had  arrived,  and  as  it  were  a  second  harvest  of  politicians 
which  France  had  produced  since  giving  birth  to  the  Constitutional 
Assembly. 

The  Legislative  Assembly  had  no  more  wealth  than  years.  The 
great  landed  proprietors  had  disappeared,  and  a  gentleman  of  the 
ancient  court  wrote  disdainfully,  that  all  the  new  deputies  together 
did  not  possess  from  landed  estates  three  hundred  thousand  livres 
of  revenue. 

The  Assembly  at  first  hesitated  in  its  choice  of  leaders ;  it  needed 
to  become  acquainted  with  itself.  It  chose,  as  president,  a  Feuillant, 
an  able  and  politic  man,  who  had  some  credit  with  the  Paris 
bourgeoisie,  Pastoret ;  but  advanced  opinion  had  the  majority  in  the 
bureaux.  October  4,  the  Assembly  took  an  oath  "  to  live  free  or  to 
die  " ;  then  each  deputy  swore  fidelity  to  the  Constitution  upon  the 
Book  of  the  Law,  brought  by  the  twelve  seniors  in  age.  The  repub- 

*  After  June  27,  1789,  the  clergy,  the  noblesse,  and  the  Third  Estate  formed  but 
one  body,  which  was  indifferently  named  the  National  and  the  Constituent  Assembly. 


206  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

licans  swore  as  did  the  others.  The  king  had  sworn,  hoping  the 
Constitution  would  perish  from  its  own  defects.  The  republicans 
did  the  same,  expecting  that  experience  would  show  the  incompati- 
bility between  royalty  and  democracy.  The  Assembly  as  a  majority 
distrusted  royalty,  but  had  taken  no  decided  stand  against  it. 

The  Legislative  Assembly,  in  the  name  of  France,  voted  thanks  to 
the  Constituent  Assembly. 

The  Assembly  sent  notification  to  the  king  that  it  was  organized. 
The  deputation  was  not  received,  so  it  thought,  with  sufficient 
respect.  This  had  a  bad  effect.  An  Auvergne  deputy;  Couthon, 
proposed  that  they  no  longer  give  the  king  the  titles  of  Sire  and 
Majesty,  and  that  when  the  king  came  to  the  Assembly  he  should 
have  only  an  arm-chair  like  that  of  the  president. 

The  proposition  passed.  The  equality  of  the  seat  of  the  king  and 
the  president  had  been  established  at  that  sitting  where  Louis  XVI. 
had  accepted  the  Constitution.  But  since,  this  had  been  reconsid- 
ered, and  the  king  had  been  given  a  gilded  arm-chair,  a  sort  of  throne. 

The  leaders  of  the  preceding  Assembly,  the  Lameths  and  others, 
and  the  new  president,  Pastoret,  employed  the  evening  and  the  night 
in  demonstrating  to  the  deputies  that  to  withdraw  from  the  king  the 
honors  that  remained  to  him  and  the  titles  which  they  had  always 
given  him,  was  to  abolish  royalty  and  to  make  a  new  revolution. 

The  Assembly,  forewarned  that  the  king  would  not  come  to  open 
the  session  if  the  decree  was  maintained,  yielded  by  a  majority  of 
five.  The  next  day,  October  7,  the  king  carne  to  the  Assembly. 
He  was  well  received,  and  delivered  a  short  address  composed  by 
Duport-Dutertre,  minister  of  justice,  in  which  he  spoke  of  what  re- 
mained to  be  done  in  developing  the  Constitution,  in  renovating  the 
civil  laws,  in  establishing  national  education,  etc.  There  was  for 
some  days  an  appearance  of  reconciliation. 

It  was  only  an  appearance ;  the  future  was  becoming  more  and 
more  sombre.  During  the  second  half  of  October  frightful  tidings 
horrified  the  Assembly  and  all  France ;  on  the  one  hand  they  came 
from  Avignon,  on  the  other  from  the  colonies. 

We  have  stated  that  in  1790  the  revolutionary  party  in  Avignon 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  207 

had  conquered  the  party  of  the  Pope,  and  had  proclaimed  its  wish 
of  reuniting  that  city  to  France. 

The  victory  of  the  Avignon  patriots  had  not  terminated  the  con- 
test. The  papal  and  aristocratic  party  had  maintained  itself  in  the 
province  adjoining  Avignon,  the  Comtat  Venaissin,  which  had  an 
administration  distinct  from  that  of  Avignon. 

Avignon  having  proposed  reunion  with  the  Comtat,  and  the 
reunion  of  both  to  France,  the  great  majority  of  the  population 
manifested  its  desire  to  become  French.  But  meanwhile  the  papal 
party  succeeded  in  exciting  against  Avignon  the  jealousy  of  Carpen- 
tras,  the  chief  place  of  the  Comtat,  and  formed  here  a  local  assem- 
bly antagonistic  to  the  electoral  assembly  of  Avignon,  and  violently 
persecuted  the  Comtadine  patriots.  The  people  of  Avignon  went  to 
the  succor  of  the  latter. 

The  Constituent  Assembly,  which  then  sought  to  keep  on  good 
terms  with  the  Pope,  and  feared  lest  new  France  might  be  accused 
of  ambition,  hesitated  about  acceding  to  the  wish  of  Avignon,  and 
adjourned  the  question  of  acceptation  (August  20,  1790). 

The  Pope  declared  null  all  that  had  been  done  against  his  rights, 
and  ordered  a  re-establishment  of  the  old  order  of  things,  including 
the  Inquisition  (October  6,  1790). 

The  donations  of  Avignon  and  the  Comtat  were  made  by  former 
princes  to  the  Holy  See  without  the  consent  of  the  people,  and 
amounted  to  little  in  face  of  the  will  of  the  French,  who  did  not 
intend  that  their  country  should  longer  be  under  foreign  domination. 

The  Constituent  Assembly  sent  troops  to  Avignon,  but  did  not 
proclaim  the  reunion.  This  did  not  stop  the  civil  war  of  the 
Comtat,  which  became  cruel  on  both  sides. 

The  people  of  Avignon  had  raised  a  small  army.  After 
having  taken  Cavaillon,  a  small  patriotic  town  where  the  papists 
had  instituted  a  perfect  reign  of  terror,  they  assailed  Carpentras. 
In  consequence  of  a  check,  the  soldiers  slew  their  general,  whom 
they  accused  of  treason,  and  chose  as  his  successor  a  brutal  and 
ferocious  man,  a  muleteer,  Jourdain,  surnamed  the  Beheader.  Avig- 
non sent  a  new  message  to  the  Assembly.  "We  wish,"  it  said, 


208  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

"  to  live  Frenchmen,  or  to  die."     Eeunion  was  the  only  means  of 
preventing  new  excesses. 

The  Assembly  sent  mediators  who  caused  a  treaty  of  peace  to 
be  signed  (June  9,  1791). 

War  left  the  rural  districts  only  to  re-enter  Avignon.  It  recom- 
menced, not  between  the  papists  and  the  patriots,  but  between  the 
municipality  and  the  Avignon  army.  The  municipality  was  for 
the  Feuillants;  the  army  leaders  for  the  Jacobins.  But  there  were 
among  them  many  local  rivalries,  and  most  of  the  chiefs  of  the  army 
were  men  of  riotous  natures  and  unbridled  passions.  The  soldiers 
had  committed  such  excesses  that  the  municipal  party  named  them 
brigands.  The  municipality  not  having  paid  the  soldiers  at  the 
moment  of  their  disbandment,  they  revolted,  and  arrested  the  muni- 
cipal officers  (August  21).  In  presence  of  this  anarchy,  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly  finally  decided  to  decree  the  reunion  (September 
13, 1791). 

The  disorder  which  reigned  in  Avignon  encouraged  the  papal 
party  to  lift  its  head.  In  revenge  for  the  silver  plate  and  the  bells 
stolen  from  the  churches,  the  papists  stirred  up  the  people  of  the 
town  and  its  environs  to  insurrection.  One  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
new  revolutionary  municipality,  and  perhaps  the  only  honest  and 
humane  one  among  them,  was  dragged  into  the  Church  of  the  Cor- 
deliers, tortured,  and  murdered. 

Some  hundreds  of  Avignon  soldiers  arrived  too  late  to  save  Les- 
cuyer.  This  crime  was  avenged  by  a  hundred  others.  Led  by 
Jourdain,  the  Beheader,  they  dispersed  without  combat  the  papal 
mob,  killing  all  they  could  seize,  and  then,  going  from  house  to 
house,  they  arrested  all  they  hated,  even  to  women  and  children. 
They  took  their  victims  to  the  old  castle  of  the  popes,  into  a  tower 
which  had  formerly  witnessed  the  secret  cruelties  of  the  Inquisition. 
The  soldiers,  their  first  fury  over,  might  have  spared  their  prisoners  ; 
but  some  perverse  and  atrocious  leaders  had  resolved  upon  the  mas- 
sacre, and  caused  its  execution  by  a  small  detachment  mad  with 
liquor.  Among  them  was  a  boy  of  sixteen  years,  bathed  in  blood  ; 
but  it  was  vengeance  which  intoxicated  him;  he  was  the  son  of 
the  unfortunate  Lescuyer. 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  209 

They  killed  all,  men  and  women,  the  prisoners  of  a  day,  as  well 
as  those  who  had  been  taken  at  the  time  of  the  municipal  arrest. 
One  hundred  and  ten  victims  dead  or  dying,  were  hurled  into  a 
well  at  the  bottom  of  the  tower,  which  was  called  the  Glaciere  (ice- 
pit).  Quicklime  was  thrown  upon  the  bodies,  and  torrents  of  water 
upon  the  walls;  but  nothing  could  efface  from  the  surface  of  the 
tower  the  traces  of  blood  left  in  their  passage  by  the  bodies  hurled 
into  this  abyss  (October  16,  1791). 

When  the  truth  was  known  in  Paris,  a  general  was  sent  to  occupy 
Avignon  and  arrest  the  authors  of  the  massacre,  who  could  oppose 
no  resistance.  Weakness  had  succeeded  rage.  Almost  at  the  same 
time  of  the  news  from  Avignon,  tidings  were  received  of  a  catas- 
trophe far  greater  at  Saint  Domingo.  There,  as  in  the  Avignon 
affair,  the  indecision  of  the  Assembly  had  aided  in  bringing  on 
immense  disasters. 

The  French  colonies  in  the  American  islands,  and  also  those  upon 
the  western  coast  of  Africa,  had  constantly  increased  in  material 
prosperity  since  the  peace  with  England,  and  in  a  commercial  and 
financial  point  of  view  were  recompensing  the  mother  country  for 
the  loss  of  India  and  Canada.  The  permission  given  them  in  1786, 
to  trade  directly  with  foreign  countries,  had  doubled  their  activity. 
The  products  they  sent  to  Europe  amounted  to  two  hundred  mil- 
lions annually,  and  three  quarters  of  these  were  sold  to  foreigners. 
The  commerce  of  France  with  her  colonies  employed  six  hundred 
ships,  carrying  an  aggregate  of  two  hundred  thousand  tons.  At 
Saint  Domingo,  at  Guadeloupe,  at  Martinique,  at  the  Isles  of 
France  and  Bourbon,  the  sugar-cane  waved  on  the  plains,  coffee- 
trees  covered  the  hills;  and  the  soil  was  the  most  arable  in  the 
world. 

But  all  this  prosperity  had  its  source  in  the  enslavement  of  the 
blacks.  It  was  impossible  to  maintain  this  rule  of  iniquity  in  the 
face  of  a  Revolution  founded  upon  principles  of  right  and  justice 
for  all. 

The  movement  was  not  begun  by  the  slaves ;  they  were  too  igno- 
rant and  too  much  oppressed  beneath  their  yoke  to  comprehend 
14 


210  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

what  was  passing  in  France;  but  there  was  between  the  masters 
and  the  slaves  an  intermediate  class,  free  men  of  color,  enfranchised 
themselves  or  the  children  of  enfranchised  slaves,  and  for  the  most 
part  negroes  only  on  the  mother's  side.  Many  had  received  an 
education  and  had  arrived  at  affluence.  In  the  autumn  of  1789 
these  sent  a  deputation  to  bear  to  the  National  Assembly  a  rich 
patriotic  gift,  and  to  claim  the  rights  of  citizens. 

The  whites  were  enraged  at  seeing  men  of  color,  mulattoes,  pre- 
tend to  be  their  equals.  The  whites  of  Saint  Domingo,  the  greatest 
and  most  powerful  of  the  French  colonies,  formed  at  Saint  Marc  an 
assembly  to  defend  their  interests  (February,  1790).  The  Consti- 
tutional Assembly  having  decreed,  March  18,  1790,  that  all  the 
tax-payers  in  each  colony  should  vote  for  members  of  the  Colonial 
Assembly,  the  whites  pretended  that  this  decree  did  not  apply  to 
mulattoes,  and  the  governor  of  Saint  Domingo  accepted  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  whites.  Their  assembly  of  Saint  Marc  went  fur- 
ther ;  it  decided  that  the  decrees  of  the  Assembly  of  France  could 
be  executed  only  after  their  admission  by  the  Colonial  Assembly 
(May  28,  1790).  This  was  to  deny  the  sovereignty  of  France. 

The  governor  of  Saint  Domingo  declared  the  Assembly  of  Saint 
Marc  dissolved.  It  resisted.  The  party  of  this  assembly,  beaten 
in  an  engagement  with  the  regular  soldiers,  sent  a  large  deputation 
to  France,  which  tried  to  persuade  the  men  of  the  Revolution  that 
the  colonies  would  sustain  liberty  against  the  despotism  of  the 
executive  power. 

The  National  Assembly  confirmed  the  dissolution  of  the  Saint 
Marc  Assembly,  but  without  clearly  pronouncing  itself  in  favor 
of  the  mulattoes  (October  12,  1790).  Meantime  the  latter,  with 
arms  in  their  hands,  demanded  the  execution  of  the  decree  of 
March  18.  Their  leader,  Oge*,  a  young  man  full  of  courage  and 
intelligence,  and  twenty-three  of  his  friends,  some  of  them  whites, 
were  taken  and  executed.  The  governor  upheld  the  whites.  They, 
intoxicated  by  their  bloody  success,  persisted  more  than  ever  in 
their  pretensions  to  legislative  independence.  Having  won  over 
two  battalions  sent  from  France,  and  then  the  very  regiment  which 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  211 

had  fought  the  Saint  Marc  Assembly,  they  incited  revolted  soldiers 
from  this  regiment  to  massacre  their  colonel,  and  render  void  the 
governor's  authority. 

This  independence  which  the  colonies  had  violently  usurped 
they  hoped  to  have  confirmed  by  the  mother  country.  Their 
deputies  had  won  over  the  committee  charged  with  colonial  affairs 
in  the  National  Assembly,  and  this  committee  proposed  that  no  law 
be  passed  concerning  the  state  of  persons  in  the  colonies,  without 
having  been  demanded  by  the  colonial  assemblies.  This  was  abso- 
lutely to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  whites  the  destinies  of  the  blacks 
and  the  mulattoes. 

There  was  a  great  and  solemn  debate  in  the  Assembly.  Gre*goire, 
Lanjuinais,  Sieyes,  Petion,  sustained  energetically  the  rights  of  the 
men  of  color,  and  Malouet,  the  Abbe  Mauri,  and  others,  the  preten- 
sions of  the  whites.  The  discussion  is  summed  up  in  a  few  words 
exchanged  between  Barnave  and  Bobespierre. 

"  Do  you  wish  to  retain  the  colonies  ?  Tell  me  plainly  yes  or 
no,"  said  Barnave. 

"  Let  the  colonies  perish,"  said  Robespierre,  "  if  they  are  going  to 
cost  us  our  glory,  our  happiness,  and  our  liberty ! " 

Those  who  defended  the  whites  did  not  all  act  from  personal 
interest  or  from  prejudice.  Barnave  acknowledged  that  the  colo- 
nial rule  was  contrary  to  justice  and  reason ;  but  he  shuddered  at 
what  might  happen  if  true  principles  of  government  were  applied 
to  this  factitious  society,  whose  base  status  at  Saint  Domingo  was 
the  absolute  domination  of  thirty  thousand  whites  over  twenty 
thousand  mulattoes  and  over  from  four  to  five  hundred  thousand 
blacks.  The  proportion  was  about  the  same  in  the  other  islands. 

The  National  Assembly,  May  15,  1791,  decreed  that  people  of 
color  born  of  free  fathers  and  mothers  should  be  admitted  into  the 
colonial  assemblies,  but  that  the  national  legislature  should  never 
interfere  with  the  estate  of  people  of  color  not  free,  without  the 
previous  request  of  the  colonies.  This  was  to  give  some  aid  to  the 
cause  of  the  free  mulattoes,  but  to  abandon  the  slaves. 

An  aggravation  of  the  troubles  might  have  been  foreseen,     Bor- 


212  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

deaux,  which  had  more  than  a  hundred  millions'  capital  invested  in 
the  colonies,  offered  to  send  her  national  guard  to  Saint  Domingo. 
The  Assembly  thanked  her,  but  sent  no  soldiers.  The  colonists 
persisted  in  their  revolt.  The  Saint  Domingo  Assembly  did  not 
go  so  far  as  to  proclaim  its  separation  from  France,  but  it  acted 
as  sovereign,  and  tried  to  put  down  by  atrocious  executions  the 
embryotic  movements  among  the  slaves. 

August  22,  on  a  wild,  tempestuous  night,  the  negroes  of  the 
northern  part  of  the  island  assembled  in  the  forests  of  Morne- 
Eouge.  A  black  sorcerer  incited  them  to  vengeance  against  the 
children  of  the  "  God  of  the  whites,"  in  the  name  of  the  "  good  God 
who  has  made  the  sun."  The  next  day  the  whole  plain  of  the  Cape 
was  on  fire.  Six  hundred  sugar-houses  and  coffee-plantations  dis- 
appeared in  the  flames.  Masters  and  their  families  were  massacred 
everywhere,  unless  they  succeeded  in  reaching  the  town  of  Cape 
Francis  (to-day  Cape  Haitien),  or  the  sea.  The  whites,  meantime, 
rallied,  and,  sustained  by  the  soldiery,  resumed  the  offensive,  and 
avenged  themselves  by  burnings  and  massacres,  by  scaffolds  and 
fusillades.  Bands  of  blacks  continued  to  hold  the  northern  forests 
and  mountains,  and  the  revolt  extended  to  other  parts  of  the  island. 
The  mulattoes  in  their  turn  had  taken  up  arms,  both  to  compel  a 
recognition  of  their  rights  and  to  oppose  the  destruction  of  tillage 
and  property.  In  the  midst  of  these  furious  contests  the  beautiful 
town  of  Port-au-Prince  was  burned  and  ruined.  A  part  of  the 
blacks  compromised,  and  a  colonial  assembly  admitted  all  the  free 
inhabitants  to  political  rights  (September  21,  1791).  This  action 
was  ratified  by  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

It  was  too  late.  The  question  of  the  free  mulattoes  now  disap- 
peared before  that  of  the  slaves,  which  the  Assembly  had  not  dared 
touch,  and  which  there  was  no  longer  time  to  discuss.  The  whole 
body  of  slaves  were  let  loose. 

The  scenes  of  the  Cape  had  been  only  the  beginning  of  a  long 
series  of  horrors,  in  which  was  to  be  ingulfed  the  most  flourishing 
of  the  French  colonies.  "Within  a  few  months  it  was  estimated 
that  France  lost  six  hundred  millions  of  francs.  This  would  be 
fully  one  and  a  half  billions  to-day ! 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  213 

In  France,  the  situation  became  aggravated.  The  king,  after  the 
amnesty  declared  by  the  Constituent  Assembly,  had  tried  to  induce 
the  emigrants  to  return ;  abroad,  they  were  for  him  only  an  embar- 
rassment and  a  danger,  and  at  home,  they  might  again  have  become 
a  support.  Louis  XVI.  had  sent  confidential  messengers  to  his 
brothers,  urging  them  to  recognize  the  Constitution,  as  he  himself 
had  done. 

They  replied,  "  All  or  nothing  I "  And  instead  of  returning,  they 
despatched  circulars  through  all  the  departments,  with  grand  prom- 
ises and  menaces,  imperiously  summoning  all  the  princes  to  join 
them.  The  suppression  of  passports  had  reopened  the  frontiers. 
All  along  the  public  routes  were  seen  these  "  ci-devant  gentlemen," 
proceeding  without  the  least  secrecy  to  Belgium  and  the  electorates 
of  the  Rhine,  especially  to  Coblentz,  which  the  emigrants  called  the 
capital  of  Exterior  France.  Here  they  had  re-established  the  an- 
cient military  house  of  the  king.  Here  they  formed  legions  in  the 
name  of  the  ancient  provinces.  Monsieur  played  his  role  as  regent 
of  a  kingdom ;  he  had  a  court  and  ministers. 

Louis  XVI.,  although  the  emigrants  would  not  listen  at  all  to 
him,  continued  to  pay  from  his  civil  list  the  body-guards  and  cour- 
tiers passed  into  foreign  lands,  and  pamphleteers  wrote  in  favor  of 
the  ancient  regime,  in  France  and  outside  of  it.  The  emigrants,  at 
their  departure  carrying  away  all  the  money  they  could  procure, 
augmented  the  decline  of  the  assignats,  already  begun,  and  the 
public  distress.  Among  these  were  several  nominal  holders  of 
suppressed  places,  who  had  received  very  large  sums  in  reimburse- 
ment. 

Louis  XVI.  in  an  official  proclamation  invited  the  emigrants  to 
return  (October  14).  They  paid  no  attention  to  his  overtures. 
They  were  at  this  moment  trying  to  make  Strasburg  surrender. 

The  Legislative  Assembly  lost  patience.  October  20,  Brissot, 
before  that  body,  treated  the  question  of  emigration  with  as  much 
vigor  as  good  sense  and  equity.  He  declared  that  it  was  necessary 
to  strike,  not  at  emigration  but  at  revolt ;  to  abstain  from  violent 
measures  against  private  citizens  who  had  left  France  through  fear 


214  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

or  through  aversion  to  new  ideas,  but  to  no  longer  parley  with  the 
leaders,  to  assume  an  attitude  worthy  of  the  French  nation  toward 
foreign  powers.  "  They  dare  assume  the  pretension,"  said  he,  "  of 
obliging  France  to  change  the  laws  she  has  laid  down  for  herself! 
Ah!  well;  if  they  refuse  to  withdraw  their  protection  from  our 
rebels,  if  they  threaten  to  impose  upon  us  their  armed  mediation, 
let  us  not  await  their  attack ;  let  us  attack  them  ourselves  ! " 

At  these  bold  words  there  was  great  excitement  in  the  Assembly 
and  in  the  tribunes;  this  was  as  the  grand  trumpet-blast  of  the 
great  war. 

Brissot  ended  by  proposing  that  they  be  content  to  renew  against 
mere  emigrants  who  did  not  return  under  a  month,  that  decree  of 
the  Constituent  Assembly  which  subjected  their  estates  to  a  triple 
contribution;  but  as  to  the  king's  two  brothers  and  the  former 
prince  of  Conde,  if  they  persisted  in  inciting  against  France  French 
citizens  or  foreign  powers,  they  should  be  brought  to  trial  before 
the  high  court  established  by  the  Constitution. 

Finally,  Brissot  proposed  that  the  Assembly  reserve  to  itself  the 
right  to  take  such  measures  in  regard  to  foreign  powers  as  it  should 
deem  proper,  after  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs  had  reported  upon 
the  situation. 

After  Brissot,  a  new  deputy  made  his  first  speech.  Since  Mira- 
beau,  there  had  not  been  heard  a  voice  so  eloquent.  It  was  Ver- 
gniaud,  a  young  lawyer  from  Bordeaux,  who  was  destined  to  be  the 
great  orator  of  the  Legislative  Assembly.  Born  of  a  poor  family  of 
'Limoges,  he  had  shown  brilliant  talent  in  his  childhood,  and  had 
become  a  protege'  of  the  great  Turgot.  If  he  had  not  the  terrible 
power  of  Mirabeau,  none  could  surpass  him  in  elevation  of  thought, 
in  generosity  of  sentiment,  and  in  beauty  of  language.  No  one  so 
well  as  he  could  recall  the  dignity  and  the  harmonious  eloquence 
of  the  ancient  Greeks,  those  masters  of  all  the  arts. 

Vergniaud  sustained  Brissot.  No  one  took  the  part  of  the  emi- 
grants; but  the  Feuillants,  who  were  the  Eight  of  the  new  Assembly, 
after  having  been  the  Left  of  the  old,  endeavored  to  obtain  a  delay 
of  rigorous  measures.  A  Provengal  deputy,  Isnard,  breaking  forth 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  215 

like  a  tempest  in  this  solemn  debate,  expressed  his  indignation  that 
they  should  hesitate  to  strike  at  the  principal  offenders  because  they 
were  princes.  "  It  is  time,"  said  he, "  that  the  great  level  of  equality 
placed  upon  free  France  should  find  its  true  line ! " 

He  alluded  to  the  level,  sign  of  equality,  which  figured  every- 
where among  the  official  emblems  of  the  Revolution. 

Isnard's  impetuous  harangue  electrified  the  Assembly.  They 
decreed  the  following  proclamation,  addressed  to  Monsieur:  — 

"  Louis-Stanislas-Xavier,  French  prince,  the  National  Assembly 
requires  you,  in  virtue  of  the  French  Constitution,  to  re-enter  the 
kingdom  within  the  space  of  two  months.  In  default  of  which  you 
will  be  judged  to  have  forfeited  your  eventual  right  to  the  regency  " 
(October  31). 

November  9,  the  Assembly  passed  several  resolutions,  many  of 
them  far  more  severe  than  Brissot's  plan.  It  declared  that  the 
French  gathered  together  upon  the  frontiers  should  be  declared 
guilty  of  conspiracy  and  punished  by  death,  if  on  the  first  of  the 
ensuing  January  they  still  remained  together;  that  this  penalty 
should  apply  to  the  French  princes  and  to  emigrant  functionaries 
of  the  state  who  did  not  return  by  January  1.  The  revenues  of 
conspirators  sentenced  for  contumacy  should  during  their  lives  be 
collected  for  the  profit  of  the  nation,  without  prejudice  to  the  rights 
of  wives,  children,  and  creditors.  The  revenues  of  the  French 
princes  should  be  immediately  confiscated,  and  all  salaries  or  pen- 
sions should  cease  to  emigrant  functionaries  or  pensioners  of  the 
state.  Every  officer  who  abandoned  his  corps  without  a  formal 
resignation  or  dismission  should  be  considered  a  deserter.  Every 
Frenchman  who  enlisted  soldiers  for  the  emigrant  service  should  be 
punished  with  death. 

The  Assembly  instructed  its  diplomatic  committee  to  present  to 
it  a  report  upon  measures  to  be  taken  in  regard  to  foreign  powers. 
We  shall,  further  on,  return  to  the  relations  between  France  and 
foreign  nations. 

Eigorous  as  was  the  law  passed  by  the  Assembly,  it  is  essential 
to  note  that  it  did  not  strike  at  all  emigrants,  but  only  at  those  who 


216  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

were  gathered  in  numbers  and  who  were  openly  preparing  a  war,  at 
the  same  time  foreign  and  civil. 

The  king  refused  his  sanction  to  the  law,  which  did  not  appear 
to  him,  he  said,  compatible  with  the  principles  of  a  free  Constitu- 
tion ;  and  he  announced  that  he  should  address  a  new  proclamation 
to  the  emigrants,  and  that  he  would  again  command  his  brothers  to 
return. 

The  princes  wrote  to  the  king  that  their  honor  and  even  their 
affection  for  him  forbade  them  to  obey.  Monsieur  replied  to  the 
National  Assembly,  by  a  stupidly  impertinent  letter  which  he 
believed  witty,  but  which  only  showed  bad  taste.  Eage  increased 
in  the  Assembly  and  in  the  clubs. 

The  Assembly  had  also  begun  to  discuss  the  question  of  refrac- 
tory priests,  far  more  redoubtable  than  the  emigrants,  because  they 
had  far  more  influence  over  the  people.  In  the  frontier  depart- 
ments, the  priests  who  had  refused  the  oath  to  support  the  Consti- 
tution were  employing  all  means  to  influence  the  people  in  favor 
of  the  emigrants  and  the  foreign  powers.  In  the  departments  of  the 
interior,  especially  in  the  West  and  the  South,  the  refractory  clergy 
stirred  up  the  people  against  the  constitutional  priests  and  against 
their  adherents.  "  The  bishops  and  ambitious  priests,"  says  the 
Marquis  de  Ferrieres  in  his  memoirs,  "  far  from  danger  (for  almost 
all  had  abandoned  their  dioceses),  precipitated  other  credulous  priests 
into  an  abyss  of  calamities."  They  roused  their  fanaticism  by  their 
commands,  by  their  letters,  through  journals  paid  from  the  civil  list, 
and  urged  them  to  conspire  against  the  Eevolution. 

Hitherto,  if  there  had  been  local  deeds  of  violence  against  the 
refractory  priests,  the  national  guard  had  preserved  moderation. 
Two  departments  of  ancient  Poitou,  La  Vendee  which  was  soon  to 
acquire  a  terrible  renown,  and  the  two  Sevres,  caused  much  disqui- 
etude. The  Constituent  Assembly  had  sent  here  two  commissioners, 
Gallois  and  Gensonne";  they  made  their  report  October  9,  to  the 
Legislative  Assembly.  They  had  found  here  an  honest  but  ignorant 
population,  over-excited,  and  entirely  ruled  by  refractory  priests, 
who  had  remained  for  the  most  part  in  possession  of  their  curacies, 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  217 

for  it  had  been  almost  everywhere  impossible  to  install  constitu- 
tional curates  in  the  villages.  The  commissioners,  instead  of  resort- 
ing to  force,  had  employed  mildness  and  persuasion.  They  had 
demonstrated  to  these  poor  country-people  that  they  wished  to 
persecute  no  one ;  that  they  were  free  to  go  to  their  former  priests 
if  they  did  not  desire  official  curates ;  that  they  only  asked  of  them 
not  to  violate  the  law  in  regard  to  the  latter. 

In  fact,  a  decree  of  May  7,  1791,  authorized  ecclesiastics  deposed 
for  having  refused  the  oath  to  say  mass  in  the  parish  churches ;  and 
as  to  the  other  functions  of  worship,  those  of  the  Catholics  who  did 
not  recognize  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy,  as  well  as  citizens 
of  every  other  religious  belief,  were  authorized  to  assemble  wherever 
it  was  convenient  to  them.  Salaries  were  still  paid  to  refractory 
priests. 

The  wise  conduct  of  the  commissioners  succeeded,  and  the  peas- 
ants, at  least  in  Deux-Se'vres,  were  for  the  moment  reassured  and 
calmed.  Unhappily,  they  did  not  long  remain  so ;  violence  called 
for  violence.  News  of  the  disturbances  excited  at  many  points  by 
the  refractory  clergy  provoked  unreasonable  propositions  on  the  part 
of  different  members  of  the  Assembly.  There  was  a  very  exciting 
discussion  between  two  constitutional  bishops,  Fouchet,  bishop  of 
Caen,  the  impassioned  orator  of  the  Social  Circle,  and  Tome,  bishop 
of  Bourges.  Fouchet  demanded  the  suppression  of  the  salaries 
of  refractory  priests;  Torne*  generously  defended  them,  although 
they  treated  him  and  all  his  colleagues  as  intruders  and  apos- 
tates. 

Gensonne,  one  of  the  commissioners  sent  into  La  Vende'e,  and 
now  one  of  the  deputies  of  the  Gironde,  declared  himself  for  full 
liberty  of  worship,  on  condition  that  the  clergy  be  deprived  of  the 
civil  records  of  the  state,  of  public  instruction,  and  the  hospitals. 
This  was  touching  the  real  foundation  of  things. 

But  while  this  discussion  was  going  on,  grave  tidings  arrived 
from  the  department  of  the  Maine  and  the  Loire.  Numerous  armed 
bands  had  massacred  the  constitutional  priests,  and  had  come  into 
collision  with  the  national  guard  (November  6). 


218  THE  FEENCH  EEVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

Here,  as  in  the  affair  of  the  emigrants,  the  violent  Provengal, 
Isnard,  stirred  up  the  Assembly  by  his  fiery  eloquence.  He  wished 
that  every  refractory  priest  against  whom  any  complaint  whatever 
could  be  raised,  might  be  driven  from  France. 

The  discussion  lasted  three  weeks.  November  29,  the  Assembly 
decreed  that  all  ecclesiastics  be  required  within  eight  days  to  take 
the  civic  oath ; 

That  those  who  refused  should  be  deprived  of  their  salaries  and 
placed  under  the  surveillance  of  the  authorities,  and  that  in  case 
of  trouble  they  might  be  temporarily  removed  from  their  homes ; 

That  every  priest  convicted  of  having  incited  to  disobedience  of 
the  laws  should  be  punished  with  two  years'  imprisonment ; 

That  churches  supported  by  the  state  could  not  be  used  for  any 
other  worship. 

The  civic  oath  was  not  the  special  oath  to  the  civil  constitution 
of  the  clergy,  but  only  the  oath  of  obedience  to  the  nation,  the  law, 
and  the  king.  But  the  refractory  clergy  did  not  make  this  dis- 
tinction ;  they  maintained  that  this  oath  was,  like  the  other,  op- 
posed to  the  dictates  of  their  consciences. 

The  king,  in  spite  of  his  ministers,  vetoed  the  law  against  priests, 
as  he  had  vetoed  that  against  the  emigrants. 

The  king's  double  veto  very  much  enraged  the  advanced  revo- 
lutionary party.  The  power  of  the  Jacobins  went  on  increasing, 
and  they  had  aggrandized  their  popularity  at  the  expense  of  their 
independence,  by  rendering  their  sessions  public.  The  queen  aided 
them  by  her  passions  and  by  her  faults.  There  had  recently  been 
municipal  elections  in  Paris  in  consequence  of  very  important 
changes  which  had  taken  place  in  the  situation  of  the  capital.  La 
Fayette  was  no  longer  at  the  head  of  the  national  guard,  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly  having  in  its  last  days  deposed  the  commanding 
general,  and  decreed  that  the  command  be  exercised  in  turn  by 
the  chiefs  of  the  six  legions.  La  Fayette  had  withdrawn  to  his 
Auvergne  estates,  and  Bailie7  had  sent  in  his  resignation  as  mayor. 
The  friends  of  La  Fayette  wished,  in  his  absence,  to  elect  him  to 
the  mayoralty.  The  republicans  took  Petion  for  a  candidate.  The 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE   ASSEMBLY. 

queen  secretly  engaged  all  that  was  royalist  and  aristocratic  to  vote 
for  Petion.  She  played  this  senseless  role  to  bring  about  the  worst, 
and  hated  La  Fayette,  who  had  lost  his  popularity  and  risked  his 
life  to  save  the  king,  more  than  she  hated  the  Jacobins  who  had 
tried  to  overthrow  him. 

Petion  was  elected  mayor,  and  Manuel,  another  republican,  as 
Solicitor  of  the  Commune,  and  then  Danton  as  a  substitute  for 
Manuel  (November  18,  December  8). 

In  the  face  of  conduct  so  unreasonable,  one  is  inclined  to  lose  all 
interest  for  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette ;  but  when  we  enter 
into  the  details  of  their  interior  life,  we  see  them  so  unhappy  that 
pity  returns.  They  had  not  a  moment  of  security.  They  imagined 
that  their  cooks  were  bribed  by  the  Jacobins  to  poison  them,  and 
had  brought  them  by  two  trustworthy  persons  the  food  they  ate 
in  secret.  This  was  not  the  real  peril  they  had  to  fear. 

The  question  which  overruled  all,  which  overruled  that  of  the 
emigrants  and  that  of  the  priests,  and  upon  which  depended  the 
fate  of  the  king,  the  fate  of  France  even,  was  the  question  of  war 
or  peace.  Upon  this  question  the  parties  were  about  to  concen- 
trate ;  this  they  were  going  to  discuss ;  but  the  debate  was  to  be- 
come very  complicated,  as  all  the  Jacobins  were  not  for  war,  and 
all  the  constitutionalists  were  not  for  peace. 

The  ancient  constitutional  chiefs,  or  Feuillants,  were  in  accord  as 
to  the  support  of  the  Constitution  and  the  king,  but  not  upon  the 
means  of  success.  Duport,  Barnave,  and  the  Lameths  were  always 
dreaming  of  what  they  had  not  dared  attempt  in  the  latter  days  of 
the  Constituent  Assembly,  namely,  the  modification  of  the  Con- 
stitution in  a  sense  favorable  to  royalty,  without  infringing  upon 
essential  liberties,  and  the  establishment  of  a  second  chamber,  an 
elective  senate.  They  believed  they  had  converted  the  queen  to 
the  Constitution,  and  as  they  knew  the  Emperor,  the  queen's 
brother,  to  be  ill  disposed  toward  the  counter-revolutionists  of 
Coblentz,  they  .hoped  that  the  Emperor  would  second  their  projects 
by  a  sort  of  mediation  which  would  menace  the  Jacobins  and  dis- 
perse the  emigrants.  These  men,  who  had  so  aroused  the  populace, 


220  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

knew  them  but  very  little,  in  supposing  that  they  would  consent 
to  modify  the  new  laws  through  fear  of  foreign  nations. 

La  Fayette  would  have  rejected  with  indignation  this  idea  of 
accepting  in  the  interior  affairs  of  France  the  influence  of  a  foreign 
power,  if  they  had  dared  communicate  it  to  him,  and  he  sought  the 
safety  of  the  Constitution  and  the  king  by  a  policy  quite  the  oppo- 
site, and  very  bold.  It  was  to  arm  thoroughly,  to  take  the  firmest 
attitude  in  regard  to  foreign  governments,  and  to  go  so  far  as  in 
the  name  of  a  constitutional  king  to  make  upon  absolute  kings  a 
war  which  he  did  not  wish,  but  which  he  did  not  at  all  fear,  and 
which  he  deemed  inevitable. 

It  was  an  honorable  and  courageous  plan.  Was  it  a  realizable 
plan  ?  A  near  future  was  going  to  decide. 

A  young  woman  of  high  intelligence,  of  great  literary  talent,  and 
of  a  lofty  and  generous  soul,  energetically  seconded  La  Fayette.  It 
was  the  daughter  of  the  former  minister  Necker,  married  to  the 
Swedish  ambassador  to  France,  —  Madame  de  Stael.  Much  op- 
posed to  the  policy  of  the  prince  represented  by  her  husband,  her 
sentiments  of  liberty  had  attached  her  to  the  party  of  the  ancient 
Constituents,  save  that  her  proclivities  were  slightly  more  monarch- 
ical, and  she  played  among  the  Feuillants  the  same  role  that 
Madame  Eoland  played  among  the  republicans.  She  also  had  been 
formed  in  the  school  of  Eousseau.  As  good,  loyal,  and  passionate 
as  Madame  Eoland,  less  capable  of  controlling  her  passions,  but 
always  associating  with  them  noble  and  disinterested  sentiments, 
she  was  in  love  with  one  of  La  Fayette's  friends,  a  young  gentleman 
named  Narbonne.  Brave,  intellectual,  politic,  and  fickle,  he  was 
for  a  moment  lifted  above  himself  by  this  woman  far  superior  to 
him.  She  dreamed  of  making  a  hero  of  him,  and  she  made  of  him 
a  minister  of  war.  They  imposed  Narbonne  upon  the  king,  who 
did  not  care  for  him  at  all,  and  still  other  changes  took  place  in 
the  ministry  at  the  beginning  of  December,  in  consequence  of  the 
dissatisfaction  the  ministers  had  caused  to  the  Assembly. 

These  changes  did  not  make  a  well-united  ministry.  Narbonne 
was  with  La  Fayette ;  other  ministers  yielded  to  the  influence  of 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  221 

Duport,  of  Barnave,  and  the  Lameths ;  finally,  there  were  some  who 
thought  with  the  queen. 

The  party  with  tendencies  toward  a  republic,  which  in  the  As- 
sembly received  the  name  of  Girondins,  on  its  side  prepared  itself 
for  coming  events,  and  wished  war  from  motives  differing  very 
greatly  from  those  of  La  Fayette.  The  Girondins  saw  in  war  the 
advent  of  the  Eepublic. 

The  two  most  eminent  deputies  of  Paris,  Brissot  and  Condorcet, 
and  the  new  mayor  of  Paris,  Petion,  made  common  cause  with  Ver- 
gniaud,  Guadet,  Gensonne",  Ducas,  and  the  other  young  and  brilliant 
deputies  of  the  Gironde.  Sieyes,  who,  after  Varennes,  had  been  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  king,  now  drew  near  the  republicans. 

Madame  Roland  and  her  husband,  who  had  returned  to  the 
Lyonnais,  came  back  to  Paris  during  the  month  of  September, 
and  strictly  allied  themselves  with  the  Girondins. 

The  different  continental  powers  had  not  all  received  in  the  same 
manner  the  communication  addressed  to  them  by  Louis  XVI.  upon 
his  acceptance  of  the  Constitution.  Catherine  II.  and  the  king  of 
Sweden  had  not  even  opened  the  letter,  and  they  had  concluded  a 
treaty  to  make  a  common  naval  armament,  which  was  a  menace 
against  France.  The  king  of  Spain  had  replied  that  he  could  have 
no  communication  with  France,  for  the  reason  that  her  king  was 
not  free.  The  emperor  and  the  king  of  Prussia  had  made  equivocal 
responses.  The  emperor  desired,  he  said,  that  they  should  foresee 
the  necessity  of  taking  precautions  against  the  return  of  things  of 
melancholy  augury.  Leopold  and  Frederic  William  maintained 
their  final  treaty  of  Pilnitz. 

November  22,  the  diplomatic  committee  of  the  Assembly  pro- 
posed to  send  a  message  to  the  king  inviting  him  to  call  upon  the 
princes  of  the  German  empire  no  longer  to  tolerate  the  assembling 
of  emigrants  upon  their  territory.  , 

Eobespierre,  who  could  no  longer  make  his  voice  heard  in  the 
Assembly,  intervened  through  means  of  that  other  tribune  he  had 
reserved  for  himself,  that  of  the  Jacobins.  He  combated  the  pro- 
ject of  a  message,  and  said  that  the  Assembly  should  act  directly ; 


222  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

that  if  within  a  fixed  date  the  Emperor  did  not  disperse  the  associa- 
tions of  emigrants,  war  should  be  declared  upon  him  in  the  name 
of  the  French  nation,  in  the  name  of  all  nations  that  were  enemies 
of  tyrants  (November  28). 

That  which  Kobespierre  demanded  was  opposed  to  the  Consti- 
tution, in  suppressing  the  role  the  Constitution  left  the  king.  His 
opinion  was  not  sustained  in  the  Assembly,  but  it  was  not  because 
the  Assembly  was  wanting  in  energy.  As  in  the  debates  concern- 
ing the  emigrants  and  the  priests,  Isnard  impetuously  threw  him- 
self into  the  van. 

"  A  people  in  a  state  of  revolution  is  invincible,"  exclaimed  he. 
"  The  French  people,  if  it  draw  the  sword,  will  throw  away  the  scab- 
bard. Let  us  tell  Europe  that  if  cabinets  engage  kings  in  a  war 
against  peoples,  we  will  engage  peoples  in  a  war  to  the  death 
against  kings.  Let  us  tell  Europe  that  ten  millions  of  Frenchmen 
imbued  with  the  fire  of  liberty  can  alone,  if  aroused  to  action, 
change  the  face  of  the  world.  I  demand  that  the  decree  proposed 
be  unanimously  adopted,  to  show  that  these  august  precincts  enclose 
only  good  Frenchmen,  friends  of  liberty  and  enemies  of  despots  ! " 

The  Assembly  unanimously  passed  the  decree,  the  Feuillants 
voting  for  it  as  well  as  the  rest ;  and  it  was  a  Feuillant  named  Vau- 
blanc,  who  drew  up  the  message  and  bore  it  to  the  king.  In  pre- 
senting it,  he  said,  "  Sire,  it  is  for  you  to  hold  toward  foreign  powers 
language  suited  to  the  king  of  the  French ;  say  to  them  that  if  the 
German  princes  continue  to  favor  warlike  preparations  against  the 
French,  we  will  carry  to  them,  not  fire  and  flame,  but  liberty."  (No- 
vember 29.) 

At  the  very  moment  when  the  Assembly  was  performing  this 
vigorous  act,  the  emperor,  the  king  of  Prussia,  and  several  princes 
from  the  banks  of  the  Ehine  were  ordering  the  bands  of  emigrants 
gathered  upon  their  soil  to  disperse ;  but  the  elector  of  Treves  did 
not  take  this  step,  and  it  was  at  Coblentz,  upon  his  territory,  that 
the  greater  number  of  armed  emigrants  was  to  be  found. 

The  emperor,  on  the  other  hand,  December  3,  published  a  mani- 
festo in  regard  to  the  landed  princes,  that  is  to  say,  the  princes  who 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  223 

had  possessed  fiefs  in  Alsace  and  in  Lorraine.  Conformably  to  the 
resolution  of  the  German  Diet,  the  emperor  forbade  these  princes 
accepting  the  large  pecuniary  indemnifications  France  offered  them 
for  the  suppression  of  their  feudal  rights,  and  to  which  many  of 
them  had  consented. 

Thus,  the  emperor  made  France  a  concession  on  the  one  hand, 
and  on  the  other  maintained  an  open  quarrel  on  a  ground  where 
France  could  not  compromise  without  renouncing  her  right  to  be 
mistress  at  home. 

He  was  playing  a  double  game,  and  so  was  his  sister.  Marie 
Antoinette  allowed  the  Feuillant  leaders  to  believe  that  she  was 
inducing  the  emperor  to  aid  them  in  the  preservation  of  peace  and 
the  Constitution  by  means  of  some  changes  in  the  new  laws ;  but 
she  dreamed  only  of  ruining  the  Constitution  for  the  profit  of  roy- 
alty, without  wishing  to  return  to  the  ancient  regime  of  the  Three 
Orders  or  to  the  emigrants. 

She  urged  the  king  to  receive  kindly  the  Assembly's  message,  so 
as  to  deceive  public  opinion,  and  to  counterbalance  the  ill  effect  of 
the  double  veto  upon  the  emigrants  and  the  priests ;  but  at  the  same 
time  she  wrote  secretly  to  Catherine  II.,  and  to  the  kings  of  Spain 
and  Sweden,  and  made  Louis  XVI.  write  to  the  king  of  Prussia. 
She  conjured  Catherine  to  urge  the  convocation  of  a  congress  of 
rulers,  and  to  urge  the  emperor  to  abandon  his  inaction,  and  come 
to  the  aid  of  his  sister.  She  did  not  cease  demanding  this  armed 
congress,  and  was  enraged  to  see  her  brother  and  the  other  princes 
so  little  favorable  to  this  idea.  "  We  desire,"  wrote  she,  November 
25,  "  to  arrive  at  an  endurable  state  of  things,  but  this  cannot  be 
brought  about  by  the  French.  The  powers  ought  now  to  come  to 
our  aid." 

December  14,  the  king  bore  his  response  to  the  Assembly.  The 
minister  -of  war,  Narbonne,  had  dictated  to  him  a  discourse  very 
able  and  very  firm.  "  I  have  declared,"  said  the  king,  "  to  the 
elector  of  Treves,  that  if  before  the  15th  of  January  all  hostile 
assemblage  on  the  part  of  the  refugees  in  his  domains  does  not 
cease,  I  shall  henceforth  see  in  him  only  an  enemy  of  France.  I 


224  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

shall  make  the  same  declaration  to  whomsoever  is  acting  in  like 
manner ;  but  I  hope  that  the  emperor,  who  has  forbidden  all  such 
assemblages  in  his  own  states,  will  use  his  authority,  as  head  of  the 
empire,  to  oblige  the  recalcitrant  princes  to  follow  his  example. 
If  my  representations  are  not  listened  to,  it  only  remains  for  me  to 
propose  war.  It  is  time  to  show  to  foreign  nations  that  the  French 
people,  its  representatives  and  its  king,  are  one.  If  my  intentions 
are  calumniated,  I  shall  not  humiliate  myself  to  reply  by  words  of 
insulting  defiance.  Never  will  I  stray  from  constitutional  limits ; 
and  I  deeply  feel  how  glorious  it  is  to  be  king  of  a  free  people." 

The  king  left  amid  the  applause  of  the  Assembly. 

Narbonne  announced  that  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men 
had  within  a  month  assembled  on  the  frontier  in  three  army  corps, 
under  the  orders  of  Kochambeau,  Luckner,  and  La  Fayette. 

Rochambeau  had  been  a  general  in  the  American  war.  Luckner 
was  an  old  German  general  who  had  fought  the  French  in  the 
Seven  Years'  War,  and  who  had  since  passed  over  into  their  service. 

Narbonne  had  appealed  to  the  public  confidence.  December  16, 
Brissot,  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  frankly  sustained  the  minister.  "There 
is,"  said  he,  "a  terrible  distrust  everywhere.  The  evil  is  at  Co- 
blentz.  The  executive  power  is  about  to  declare  war ;  it  is  doing  its 
duty,  and  we  ought  to  sustain  it  when  it  does  its  duty.  Let  it  be 
patriotic,  and  the  Jacobins  will  become  royalists." 

For  the  moment,  in  Brissot,  the  patriotic  sentiment  had  silenced 
the  political  sentiment.  He  added,  that  the  emperor  and  the  king 
of  Prussia  at  heart,  did  not  desire  war,  and  that  Germany  would 
yield.  "  As  for  the  czarina,"  said  he,  "  she  dreams  only  of  involving 
her  rivals  in  a  contest  with  France,  so  that  they  cannot  prevent  her 
laying  her  hand  on  the  Orient." 

Danton  showed  more  reserve;  he  said  that  they  should  well 
acquaint  themselves  with  the  situation,  and  scrutinize  the  intentions 
of  the  executive  power. 

December  18,  at  the  Jacobins'  they  gave  a  formal  reception  to  a 
deputation  of  democratic  Englishmen.  The  French,  English,  and 
American  flags  were  raised,  and  they  cried,  "  Long  live  the  three 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  225 

free  peoples  of  the  universe ! "  At  this  moment  was  brought  in  a 
sword,  sent  by  a  Swiss  patriot  to  "  the  first  who  should  overthrow 
an  enemy  of  the  Revolutioa"  Isnard,  who  presided  at  the  Jacobins', 
took  this  sword  and  brandished  it,  exclaiming,  "  Behold  it !  Behold 
it !  The  French  people  raise  a  loud  cry,  and  all  peoples  will 
respond.  The  earth  shall  be  covered  with  combatants,  and  all  the 
enemies  of  liberty  shall  be  effaced  from  the  list  of  men ! " 

The  whole  Assembly  rose  at  this  sublime  apostrophe,  which  re- 
called the  prophets  of  the  Bible. 

Robespierre  protested.  He  conjured  the  Assembly  not  to  allow 
itself  to  be  carried  away  by  such  movements,  but  to  discuss  calmly. 
He  who  on  the  28th  of  November  had  appeared  so  eager  to  declare 
war,  now  said  that  they  should  quell  interior  enemies  before  march- 
ing against  foreign  enemies.  "  The  most  dangerous  enemies  are  not 
at  Coblentz,"  he  said ;  "  they  are  in  Paris,  around  the  throne,  upon 
the  throne.  Can  we  give  the  war  of  the  Revolution  to  enemies,  to 
conduct  it  against  its  enemies  ? " 

Robespierre  maintained  that  war  made  in  the  king's  name,  and 
by  the  generals  Narbonne  had  announced,  would  be  the  ruin  of 
liberty,  and  that  they  would  turn  the  victorious  army  against  the 
Revolution.  He  urgently  recommended  the  distrust  which  Brissot 
had  deprecated,  and  denounced  the  alliance  of  the  court  and  the 
former  leaders  of  the  Constituent  Assembly.  He  ended  by  saying, 
that  in  putting  France  in  a  state  of  defence  it  was  not  necessary  to 
declare  actual  war. 

This  division  of  the  patriots  upon  so  great  a  question  violently 
agitated  Paris.  Camille  Desmoulins,  who  was  then  under  Robes- 
pierre's influence,  wrote  against  the  war,  as  did  that  widely  circu- 
lated journal,  the  "  Paris  Revolutions,"  and  also  Marat,  who  filled 
his  journal  with  the  most  senseless  contradictions.  In  this  grand 
controversy  Danton  did  not  take  a  role  worthy  of  his  energy.  He 
vacillated  between  the  party  of  action  and  that  of  distrust. 

The  Paris  Jacobins  were  divided,  but  the  majority  of  the  depart- 
mental societies  pronounced  for  war,  and  the  current  of  public 
opinion  ran  in  this  direction.  Popular  sentiment  wished  to  emerge 
15 


226  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

from  an  uncertainty  which  at  the  same  time  exasperated  and  ener- 
vated the  country. 

December  30,  Brissot  replied  to  Robespierre.  He  was  spirited, 
aggressive,  and  brilliant.  Eobespierre  had  predicted  that  war  would 
bring  France  a  Csesar.  Brissot  predicted  that  France  would  see 
patriotic  generals  arise  from  the  people,  —  generals  who  would  be 
sparing  of  blood  upon  the  battle-field,  who  would  be  poor  and 
would  not  blush  for  it. 

Both  prophecies  were  to  be  realized.  After  Hoche  and  Marceau, 
France  was  to  have  Bonaparte. 

Robespierre  had  foretold  treasons.  Brissot  replied  in  one  bold,  and 
profound  sentence :  "Great  treasons  will  prove  fatal  only  to  traitors; 
we  have  need  of  great  treasons ! " 

He  did  not  fully  develop  his  idea,  which  was  that  of  the  Gironde 
party.  It  was  that  the  court  would  prove  traitor ;  that  this  treason 
already  foreseen,  would  subside  before  the  immensity  of  the  popular 
movement,  and  lead  to  the  republic. 

After  Brissot,  one  of  the  most  whimsical  orators  of  the  Cordelier 
club,  Anacharsis  Klootz,  the  ci-devant  German  baron,  demanded  war 
in  a  discourse  full  of  audacity  and  originality.  He  claimed  for 
France  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps. 

Robespierre  continued  to  resist  with  a  dogged  persistence,  and 
an  eloquence  often  declamatory.  The  Jacobins  at  last  compelled 
Robespierre  and  Brissot  to  embrace  each  other ;  but  the  two  men 
and  the  two  parties  remained  none  the  less  irrevocably  separated. 

Robespierre,  just  as  he  believed  Narbonne  and  La  Fayette  accom- 
plices of  the  court  and  of  foreign  powers,  soon  came  to  believe 
Brissot  and  the  Girondins  accomplices  of  Narbonne  and  La  Fayette. 
He  believed  it,  and  was  well  pleased  to  believe  it. 

He  had  calculated  that,  the  Constituent  Assembly  having  once 
disappeared,  he  should  govern  the  new  Assembly,  without  being  a 
member  of  it,  from  the  depths  of  his  Jacobin  club.  But,  behold, 
unknown  talents  had  burst  forth,  new  men  were  looming  up,  men 
not  inspired  by  him  but  by  themselves,  and  also  by  the  thought 
of  a  heroic  woman! 


1794.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  227 

December  24,  there  was  communicated  to  the  Assembly  a  letter 
from  the  emperor  to  the  king,  demanding  in  high  terms  the  re- 
establishment  of  vassals  of  the  German  Empire  into  their  feudal 
and  other  rights  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 

The  same  day  La  Fayette,  having  returned  from  Auvergne,  left 
Paris  to  go  and  assume  the  command  of  his  army  corps.  Narbonne 
had  insisted  upon  his  appointment  to  the  command  which  the  king 
unwillingly  gave  him.  For  a  moment  La  Fayette  regained  his  old 
popularity.  The  national  guard  and  a  large  concourse  of  citizens 
escorted  him  beyond  the  barriers. 

December  29,  the  Assembly  decreed  unanimously  a  solemn  dec- 
laration to  Europe  proposed  by  Condorcet.  In  it  were  quoted  the 
following  words  from  the  Constitution:  — 

"  The  French  nation  will  undertake  no  war  for  conquest ;  it  will 
never  employ  its  forces  against  the  liberty  of  any  people."  It  set 
forth  the  necessity  of  employing  force  against  the  rebels,  who  from 
the  midst  of  a  foreign  land  threatened  to  rend  their  country.  "  And 
yet,"  added  the  declaration,  "  the  French  nation  will  not  cease  to  see 
a  friendly  people  in  the  regions  occupied  by  rebels  and  governed  by 
the  princes  who  protect  them.  The  peaceable  citizens  whose  coun- 
try her  armies  occupy  will  be  neither  her  enemies  nor  her  subjects. 
Jealous  of 'her  own  independence,  she  will  not  attack  the  independ- 
ence of  other  nations.  France  will  take  up  arms  in  spite  of  herself, 
and  joyfully  lay  them  down  on  the  day  when  she  shall  no  longer 
have  anything  to  fear  for  liberty  and  equality.  Too  wise  to  antici- 
pate the  lesson  of  the  time,  she  wishes  only  to  maintain  her  Consti- 
tution and  to  defend  it.  Division  between  the  two  powers,  the  last 
hope  of  our  enemies,  has  vanished  at  the  call  of  the  imperilled 
country ! " 

The  republican  philosopher  who  had  drawn  up  the  declaration 
was  sincere.  If  the  court  did  not  plot  treason,  he  was  resigned  to 
await  the  time  for  the  advent  of  the  republic. 

The  Assembly  voted  the  twenty  millions  demanded  by  the  min- 
ister of  war. 

December  31,  the  minister  informed  the  Assembly  that  a  mani- 


228  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

festo  from  the  emperor  declared  that  if  violence  was  used  against 
the  elector  of  Treves,  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Austrian  forces 
in  Luxembourg  had  orders  to  give  him  aid. 

The  ministry,  in  the  king's  name,  confirmed  the  royal  declaration 
of  the  14th  of  December,  declaring  war  if  the  elector  of  Treves  did 
not  give  satisfaction. 

The  next  day  the  Assembly  passed  a  unanimous  vote  to  place 
upon  trial  the  two  brothers  of  the  king,  the  former  prince  of  Conde, 
the  ex-minister  Calonne,  and  two  other  emigrant  chiefs.  The 
Feuillants  of  the  Assembly  followed  the  direction  of  La  Fayette 
and  Narbonne  rather  than  that  of  the  old  leaders  of  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  who  were  losing  the  little  influence  that  yet  remained 
to  them. 

The  most  vigorous  measures  had  been  resolved  upon  by  the  min- 
ister of  war  and  the  three  generals.  It  had  been  decided  that  the 
three  army  corps  should  march  upon  Lie"ge,  Treves,  and  Coblentz. 

The  elector  of  Treves  yielded,  and  ordered  the  dispersion  of  asso- 
ciations of  emigrants.  The  emperor,  while  despatching  to  France 
the  declaration  that  he  would  defend  the  elector,  had  obliged  him 
to  avoid  attack  in  this  manner. 

The  question  of  the  emigrants  was  solved,  or  so  appeared  to  be ; 
but  it  was  not  the  real  ground  of  dispute ;  other  very  grave  ques- 
tions yet  remained,  and  so  the  war  was  only  adjourned. 

Minister  Narbonne,  on  his  return  from  the  inspection  of  the  fron- 
tiers, made,  January  11,  a  report  to  the  Assembly  upon  the  state 
of  the  army,  the  fortresses,  and  the  supplies.  The  report  was  full 
of  confidence  and  enthusiasm.  His  assertions  were  much  exag- 
gerated ;  he  had  seen  things  as  he  wished  to  see  them ;  but  it  was 
no  illusion,  —  the  statement  he  made  as  to  the  ardor  of  the  volun- 
teer and  regular  soldiers  for  the  cause  of  the  Revolution. 

"  When  the  general  will,"  said  he,  "  is  as  forcibly  expressed  as  in 
France,  it  is  in  the  power  of  no  one  to  arrest  its  consequences." 

January  14,  the  Girondin,  Gensonne,  in  the  name  of  the  diplo- 
matic committee,  proposed  that  the  Assembly  invite  the  king  to 
demand  of  the  emperor  a  pledge  to  undertake  no  hostile  movement 


1794.]     DECLAEATION  OF  WAR  AGAINST  AUSTRIA.         229 

against  the  French  nation,  its  Constitution,  and  its  full  and  entire 
independence  in  the  conduct  of  its  government.  If  the  emperor 
made  no  satisfactory  response  before  the  10th  of  February,  his 
refusal  would  be  considered  as  an  act  of  hostility. 

Another  Girondin,  Guadet,  exclaimed,  that  they  should  begin  by 
declaring  infamous,  and  a  traitor  to  his  country,  every  Frenchman 
who  should  take  part  in  a  congress  having  for  its  end  a  modification 
of  the  Constitution,  a  mediation  between  France  and  the  rebels,  a 
capitulation  with  the  princes  having  possessions  in  Alsace. 

Guadet's  motion  passed  unanimously,  and  with  acclamation.  The 
king  sanctioned  it. 

The  proposition  made  by  the  diplomatic  committee  was  discussed 
during  several  sessions.  Brissot,  contradicting  his  statements  be- 
fore the  Jacobins,  said  plainly  that  the  real  enemy  was  the  emperor. 
"Leopold  is  making  upon  us,"  said  he,  "a  covert  war  more  dan- 
gerous than  an  open  war.  He  has  invited  the  leading  powers  of 
Europe  to  form  an  armed  league,  under  pretext  of  protecting  the 
dignity  of  the  king  of  the  French  and  the  honor  of  crowns.  We 
should  guard  against  entering  into  fallacious  negotiations  upon  the 
response  demanded  from  Leopold ;  but  we  should  signify  to  him 
that  we  will  assume  the  offensive  against  him  February  10,  if  he 
does  not,  before  that  time,  give  full  satisfaction  to  France." 

Vergniaud  sustained  Brissot  in  a  splendid  discourse,  in  which  he 
showed  that  the  plan  of  the  enemies  of  France  was  to  weary  her 
by  delays  and  barren  sacrifices,  and  to  overwhelm  her  when  she 
should  be  exhausted  or  divided.  He  uttered  this  grand  cry,  which 
was  soon  to  be  the  refrain  of  the  Marseillaise :  — 

Aux  armes,  citoyetis  !  ("  To  arms,  citizens ! ") 

"  The  die  is  cast ! "  said  Isnard.  "  Equality  and  liberty  must  tri- 
umph, and  they  will  triumph  in  spite  of  aristocracy,  theocracy,  and 
despotism,  because  such  is  the  resolution  of  the  French  people,  and 
because  it  recognizes  no  superior  will  to  its  own,  save  the  will  of 
God." 

Fifty  thousand  men  were  needed  to  complete  the  number  required 
in  the  army. 


230  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

January  23,  the  Assembly  ordered  that  all  citizens  capable  of 
bearing  arms  be  called  together  the  following  Sunday,  in  the  chief 
places  of  each  canton,  and  invited  to  rush  to  the  defence  of  country 
and  liberty.  The  names  of  all  those  willing  to  engage  as  foot  sol- 
diers were  registered. 

The  Feuillants  tried  to  arrest  the  tempest  sweeping  through  the 
Assembly.  They  did  not  succeed.  January  25,  the  Assembly, 
"considering  that  the  emperor  had  broken  the  friendly  treaty  of 
1756  between  Austria  and  France,  and  had  sought  to  excite  be- 
tween the  diverse  powers  a  concerted  action,  prejudicial  to  the 
sovereignty  and  safety  of  the  nation,  resolved  that  the  king  be 
requested  to  demand  that  the  emperor  renounce  every  treaty  and 
agreement  directed  against  the  national  independence  of  France." 
Should  the  emperor  fail  to  give  full  satisfaction  to  the  French 
nation  before  the  1st  of  March,  his  silence,  as  well  as  any  evasive 
response,  would  be  considered  a  declaration  of  war. 

This  decree  was  the  response  of  France  to  the  declaration  of 
Pilnitz. 

February  9,  on  Cambon's  jmotion,  the  Assembly  decreed  the  con- 
fiscation  of  the  estates  of  emigrants. 

On  the  16th,  the  Assembly  adopted  an  "  Address  to  Frenchmen," 
drawn  up  by  Condorcet,  against  "  fanatic  priests,  privileged  rebels, 
and  royal  conspirators." 

The  Gironde  party  had  incited  the  Assembly  to  war.  Outside 
the  Assembly  the  Girondins  prepared  the  people  for  war  by  excit- 
ing them,  by  arming  them,  by  preaching  concord  to  them.  Mayor 
Petion  published  a  letter  in  which  he  demanded  the  union  of  all 
not  belonging  to  the  ancient  privileged  classes.  "The  bourgeoisie 
and  the  populace  united  have  brought  about  the  Revolution,"  said 
he ;  "  their  union  alone  can  maintain  it" 

While  the  Girondins  were  propagating  the  manufacture  of  pikes, 
their  friend  Brissot  propagated  the  adoption  of  the  red  cap  as  a 
rallying-sign  of  the  patriots.  The  Phrygian  cap  had  been  a  token 
of  enfranchisement  among  the  Romans,  and  it  had  remained  the 
emblem  of  liberty.  Far  from  attaching  then  an  idea  of  blood  and 


1794.]  THE  GIRONDISTS.  231 

cruelty  to  the  red  color,  they  adopted  it  only  as  more  gay  and  strik- 
ing than  any  other. 

From  this  moment  dates  also  the  adoption  of  the  name  sans 
culotte  by  many  of  the  popular  party.  The  aristocrats  had  given 
it  them  in  derision  of  their  old  clothes;  they  accepted  it  as  the 
ancient  republicans  of  Holland  had  accepted  the  epithet  of  raga~ 
muffins,  hurled  at  them  by  their  adversaries. 

The  Feuillants  and  the  counter-revolutionists  attempted  a  re- 
action. There  were  quarrels  in  the  theatres  and  in  the  environs 
of  the  Assembly.  Troubles  arising  from  the  enhanced  price  of 
colonial  products,  brought  about  by  the  Saint  Domingo  catastro- 
phes, and  by  the  dearness  of  grain,  and  also  the  religious  quarrels 
which  grew  more  and  more  envenomed,  caused  diversions  from 
which  the  counter-revolution  hoped  to  profit  The  Feuillants  de- 
nounced the  clubs  to  the  Assembly,  but  without  result  The 
Jacobins  defied  their  enemies  to  touch  the  popular  societies.  The 
municipal  elections,  which  took  place  in  February,  in  the  forty- 
eight  sections  of  Paris,  gave  the  majority  to  the  Girondins,  and 
formed  a  Council  General  of  the  Commune,  which  moved  in  accord 
with  Mayor  Petion. 

The  Feuillants,  as  we  have  said,  were,  like  the  Jacobins,  divided 
among  themselves  upon  the  war  question,  and  this  inspired  among 
them  two  opposite  policies  in  regard  to  foreign  affairs.  Duport, 
Barnave,  and  the  Lameths  had  dreamed  of  an  understanding  with 
Austria  through  the  mediation  of  the  queen ;  La  Fayette  and  Xar- 
bonne,  on  the  contrary,  thought,  with  Brissot  and  the  Girondins, 
that  the  emperor  was  the  real  enemy.  La  Fayette  occupied  him- 
self only  in  preparing  for  war;  but  Narbonne  attempted  negotia- 
tions of  an  entirely  new  character  to  divide  the  powers  and  gain 
allies.  He  believed  it  possible  to  separate  Prussia  from  Austria, 
and  to  bring  about  an  alliance  between  constitutional  France,  Prus- 
sia, and  England.  He  caused  to  be  sent  to  Berlin  an  ancient  am- 
bassador from  France  to  Russia,  M.  de  Segur,  with  a  mission  to 
gain  the  favor  of  the  king  of  Prussia.  A  former  member  of  the 
Constituent  Assembly,  a  personage  of  great  ability,  M.  de  Talley- 


232  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

rand,  who  had  left  his  bishopric  of  Autun,  took  it  upon  himself 
to  go  to  London  and  negotiate  with  the  English  ministers. 

Narbonne  had  misjudged  the  disposition  of  the  Prussian  court. 
King  Frederic  William  was  more  incensed  against  the  Eevolution 
than  the  emperor  himself,  and  Segur  was  ill  received. 

Talleyrand  was  coldly  received  in  England.  Pitt,  the  minister 
of  foreign  affairs,  was  resolved  that  England  should  maintain  her 
neutrality. 

About  the  same  time  the  queen  had  sent  a  secret  agent  to  Lon- 
don, and  Pitt  had  said  to  him  that  he  would  not  allow  the  French 
monarchy  to  perish,  nor  the  revolutionary  spirit  to  conduct  France 
to  an  organized  republic.  Pitt  did  not  express  his  idea  clearly ;  he 
was  at  the  same  time  opposed  to  the  ancient  French  monarchy  and 
to  a  republic  which  would  render  New  France  too  strong,  as  Eng- 
land had  been  under  Cromwell.  During  the  first  phase  of  the 
Eevolution  he  had  remained  neutral,  hoping  that  England  might 
profit  from  the  discords  of  France.  During  the  second  phase,  and 
until  his  death,  he  was  an  enemy  of  France. 

Narbonne's  foreign  policy  failed  utterly.  That  of  Duport,  Bar- 
nave,  and  Lameth  had  no  better  success.  The  queen  and  the 
emperor  were  deceiving  them.  After  the  communication  to  the 
Assembly  of  the  emperor's  manifesto,  in  which  he  announced  that 
he  would  protect  the  elector  of  Treves,  that  body  had  remitted  to 
the  queen,  for  her  brother  the  emperor,  a  memorial,  in  which  he  was 
conjured  to  take  a  pacific  attitude,  and  to  express  himself  in  a 
manner  favorable  to  the  Constitution.  The  queen  despatched  the 
memorial,  but  apprised  her  brother  that  the  sending  it  was  com- 
pulsory on  her  part 

January  31,  the  emperor  replied  that  the  Constitution  must  be 
modified  so  as  to  consolidate  it  and  give  a  place  in  it  to  the  nobil- 
ity, a  political  element  necessary  to  every  monarchy.  He  indulged 
in  lively  recriminations  against  the  republicans  who  ruled  the  new 
Assembly,  and  added  that,  in  unison  with  the  king  of  Prussia,  he 
should  confine  himself  to  defensive  armaments  as  long  as  possible. 
He  exhorted  the  king  and  queen  not  to  recede  from  legal  paths 


1794.]          THE  QUESTION  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE.  233 

nor  from  public  spirit,  and  he  offered  to  exchange  communications 
with  the  leaders  of  the  moderate  party. 

To  give  counsel  at  the  same  time  not  to  recede  from  legal  paths 
nor  from  public  spirit,  and  to  restore  the  noblesse,  was  to  make 
a  jest  of  the  chiefs  of  the  moderate  party,  as  the  emperor  called 
them. 

The  queen's  sole  purpose  was  to  deceive  the  Feuillants,  and  she 
gave  her  brother  no  peace.  "  Let  the  emperor  feel  the  affronts  he 
himself  receives,"  she  wrote ;  "  let  him  show  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  other  powers  with  imposing  forces,  and  all  here  will  tremble ! 
We  have  no  assistance  to  expect  from  time  nor  from  within  our 
borders." 

So  she  was  expecting  nothing  from  the  Feuillants;  she  judged 
them  powerless. 

The  former  Austrian  ambassador  to  France,  Count  de  Merci,  who 
from  Brussels  continued  to  advise  Marie  Antoinette,  replied,  laying 
before  the  queen  a  plan  the  emperor  was  about  to  propose  to  the 
other  powers. 

This  plan  was  to  declare  unitedly  to  the  French  government  that 
the  general  interest  of  Europe  demanded  that  France  retain  the 
monarchical  form,  with  its  requisite  conditions;  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  nobility,  and  especially  that  degree  of  authority  which 
should  belong  to  a  monarch ;  that  the  foreign  powers  were  author- 
ized to  demand  a  just  modification  in  this  respect.  The  powers 
further  demanded :  1.  That  France  should  disperse  the  three  armies 
formed  with  hostile  intent ;  2.  That  the  princes  having  possessions 
in  Alsace  be  re-established  in  their  rights  and  possessions ;  3.  That 
Avignon  and  the  Comtat  Venaissin  be  restored  to  the  Pope. 

The  emperor  offered  to  maintain  these  propositions  with  his 
Belgian  army  and  forty  thousand  men  beside,  provided  the  king 
of  Prussia  would  furnish  the  same  number. 

This  letter  proves  that  the  Girondins  on  the  one  hand,  and  La 
Fayette  on  the  other,  were  right  in  regarding  war  as  inevitable,  and 
since  it  was  inevitable,  in  wishing  to  begin  it  promptly. 

Merci's  letter  was  dated  February  16.     Some  clays  before  (Feb- 


234  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

ruary  7)  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  Prussia  had  signed  a  new 
treaty,  confirming  their  alliance. 

Another  letter  from  Merci,  dated  March  1,  announced  to  the 
queen  the  adhesion  of  Prussia  to  the  plan  of  the  emperor.  Austria 
and  Prussia  were  to  furnish  each,  not  forty  but  fifty  thousand  men. 
The  king  of  Prussia  had  proposed  that  France  pay  the  costs  of  this 
armament,  and  invited  Louis  XVI.  to  designate  persons  to  arrange 
the  affair  with  the  powers. 

Merci's  despatch  met  a  letter  from  the  queen,  which  declared  the 
emperor's  plan  good,  bul  too  slow ;  there  was  not  a  moment  to  lose. 

During  this  exchange  of  secret  correspondence  there  was  a  full 
crisis  in  the  Assembly  and  in  the  government. 

March  1,  but  through  a  delay  which  came  from  the  minister  of 
foreign  affairs,  the  Assembly  received  the  emperor's  response  to  the 
explanations  which  had  been  demanded  of  him  before  the  decree 
of  January  25.  The  Austrian  despatch  began  in  a  pacific  tone 
enough,  but  it  soon  broke  forth  vehemently  against  the  republican 
party,  whose  influence  over  the  Legislative  Assembly  necessitated 
the  maintenance  of  an  understanding  between  the  powers.  He 
protested  against  the  Assembly's  illegal  decree  of  January  25. 
"The  emperor,"  he  said,  "deemed  it  his  duty  to  denounce  publicly 
the  pernicious  sect  of  the  Jacobins." 

This  message  was  received  by  the  Assembly  with  rage  and 
disdain. 

The  three  generals  had,  beside,  written  to  Narbonne  dissuading 
him  from  leaving  the  ministry,  where  they  judged  it  necessary  he 
should  remain.  These  letters  had  been  designed  to  influence  the 
king.  An  indiscretion  communicated  them  to  the  daily  papers. 
The  king,  already  ill  disposed  toward  Narbonne,  was  enraged  at 
this,  and  instead  of  removing  the  minister  of  marine,  as  the  generals 
and  the  Assembly  demanded,  he  dismissed  Narbonne  (March  9). 

The  entire  Assembly  rose  in  revolt  at  this  news.  The  Feuillants, 
feeling  the  powerlessness  of  the  party  of  Duport,  Barnave,  and 
Lameth,  had  attached  themselves  to  La  Fayette  and  Narbonne,  and 
felt  that  this  blow  from  the  counter-revolution  struck  them  also. 


1794.]  THE  QUESTION   OF  WAR  AND   PEACE. 

They  went  beyond  the  Girondins  in  demanding  a  declaration  that 
Karbonne  carried  with  him  the  regrets  of  the  Assembly,  and  that 
the  ministry  had  lost  the  confidence  of  the  nation. 

Delessart,  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  had  for  some  time  ex- 
cited the  discontent  of  the  Assembly  by  the  indecision  of  his  attitude 
toward  Austria.  He  attenuated  and  weakened,  so  far  as  was  in  his 
power,  the  effect  of  the  energetic  resolutions  of  the  Assembly.  His 
accusation  had  already  been  proposed ;  Brissot,  in  a  vehement  dis- 
course, renewed  the  proposition.  Vergniaud  surpassed  Brissot  in 
fulminating  bursts  of  eloquence  which  recalled  Mirabeau,  and 
evoked  against  Delessart  a  terrible-  remembrance. 

"  A  plaintive  voice,"  exclaimed  he,  "  rises  from  that  ghastly  ice- 
pit  of  Avignon !  It  cries  to  you :  The  decree  for  the  reunion  of 
the  Comtat  to  France  was  rendered  last  September ;  if  it  had  been 
sent  to  us  immediately,  our  soil  might  not  have  been  dishonored  by 
the  most  atrocious  of  crimes ! " 

Before  being  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  Delessart  had  been  min- 
ister of  the  interior,  and  he  was  responsible  for  that  fatal  delay rin 
the  establishment  of  the  national  authority  at  Avignon. 

Vergniaud  then  denounced  the  -perverse  manosuvres  going  on,  he 
averred,  at  the  Tuileries  to  deliver  France  to  the  house  of  Austria. 
Extending  his  arms  toward  the  palace,  he  exclaimed :  "  Heretofore 
terror  has  often  issued  from  that  famous  palace  in  the  name  of  des- 
potism ;  let  it  re-enter  there  to-day  in  the  name  of  law !  Let  all 
who  dwell  in  that  palace  know  that  our  Constitution  accords  invio- 
lability only  to  the  king !  Let  them  know  that  the  law  will  smite 
all  the  guilty  ones  there  without  distinction,  and  that  not  one  crim- 
inal head  shall  escape  its  sword ! " 

This  was  to  indicate  that  the  sword  was  suspended  over  the  head 
of  the  queen. 

The  decree  for  Delessart's  accusation  passed  by  a  large  majority. 

At  the  very  moment  this  rigorous  decree  of  the  Assembly  was 
made  known  to  them,  the  king  and  queen  received  other  serious 
tidings.  Marie  Antoinette's  brother,  the  emperor,  Leopold  II.,  had 
died  on  the  first  day  of  March. 


236  THE  FEENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

This  prince  of  ripe  age,  of  temporizing  character,  of  philosophical 
opinions,  and  of  dissolute  morals  which  had  caused  his  premature 
end,  was  succeeded  by  a  young  man  of  narrow  mind,  of  bigoted  and 
austere  devotion,  who  hated  the  Revolution  far  more  than  his  father 
had  hated  it,  and  who  had  already  pronounced  for  war. 

Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette  despatched  a  secret  agent  to 
their  nephew,  Francis,  the  new  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  the 
future  emperor. 

Meantime  the  ministry  had  been  reorganized.  Before  the  accu- 
sation of  Delessart,  Bertrand  de  Molleville,  the  most  compromised 
of  the  ministers,  and  two  of  his  colleagues,  had  sent  in  their  resig- 
nation. La  Fayette  tried  to  install  his  constitutional  friends  into 
the  ministry ;  but  the  court  not  being  able  to  appoint  counter-revo- 
lutionists, preferred  republicans  to  constitutionalists.  It  was  the 
Gironde  party  which  dictated  its  choice.  Brissot,  the  most  active 
member  of  this  party  and  the  best  informed  as  to  persons  and 
things,  had  the  principal  influence.  He  obtained  the  appointment 
to'  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs  of  a  personage  who  at  heart  had 
no  political  opinions,  but  who  had  great  capabilities  both  for  diplo- 
macy and  for  war.  Brissot  designed  attaching  him  to  the  Gironde 
party  by  satisfying  his  ambition  with  a  great  place  (March  15). 

This  personage  was  Dumouriez,  destined  to  achieve  a  dazzling 
renown,  soon  to  be  tarnished  forever.  During  his  youth  he  had 
been  by  turns  employed  in  the  secret  diplomatic  service  of  Louis 
XV.  and  as  commander  of  the  French  forces  in  Poland,  where  he 
had  won  great  distinction.  Under  Louis  XVI.  he  had  been  princi- 
pal director  of  the  great  works  at  the  Cherbourg  harbor  and  road- 
stead. Since  1789,  invested  with  a  military  command  in  the  West, 
he  had  shown  himself  favorable  to  the  Revolution,  from  which  he 
expected  fame  and  fortune,  being  prepared  to  turn  against  it  if  it 
should  not  succeed.  Of  a  quick,  penetrating  mind,  fertile  in  re- 
sources, of  a  daring  above  all  perils,  he  was  a  stranger  to  malignant 
passions  and  susceptible  to  generosity,  but  devoid  of  principle  and 
of  every  moral  sense. 

The  Girondins  in  him  gave  themselves  a  very  unreliable  ally. 


1794.]          THE  QUESTION  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE.  237 

He  began  by  protesting  to  the  king  and  queen  the  desire  he  had 
to  serve  them,  and  they  really  inspired  in  him  a  sincere  pity.  The 
queen  plainly  declared  to  him  that  neither  the  king  nor  herself 
could  tolerate  the  Constitution,  and  that  he  must  choose  his  party. 
While  endeavoring  to  make  her  listen  to  reason,  he  continued  his 
protestations  of  devotion. 

Three  days  after,  he  went  to  visit  the  Jacobins  at  their  club,  and 
mounted  their  tribune,  with  the  red  cap  on  his  head.  "  Brothers 
and  friends,"  he  said  to  them,  "  I  am  going  to  negotiate  with  all  the 
forces  of  a  free  people.  Within  a  short  time  we  shall  have  a  stable 
peace  or  a  decisive  war.  In  the  latter  case,  I  shall  lay  down  the 
pen  and  take  up  the  sword.  I  have  need  of  counsel ;  tell  me  the 
truth,  even  the  worst ! " 

The  minister  was  loudly  applauded.  Robespierre  mounted  the 
tribune,  repulsed  the  red  cap  they  offered  him  so  that  he  might 
follow  the  example  of  Dumouriez,  and  protested  against  all  dis- 
tinction between  a  minister  and  any  other  citizen  among  the 
Jacobins. 

Dumouriez  rushed  to  embrace  him  amid  the  acclamations  of  the 
club. 

The  opposition  of  Robespierre  and  a  letter  from  Mayor  Pe'tion 
decided  the  Jacobins  to  renounce  the  red  cap.  Robespierre  thought 
this  fashion  puerile  and  theatrical,  and  calculated  to  excite  useless 
quarrels. 

Robespierre  did  not  have  the  same  success  against  the  war.  The 
national  movement  became  more  and  more  pronounced  for  war. 
March  26,  it  was  announced  at  the  Jacobins'  that  six  hundred 
thousand  volunteer  soldiers  were  demanding  permission  to  march 
to  the  frontiers. 

Dumouriez  followed  this  grand  movement,  and  passionately 
desired  war.  In  fact,  in  conjunction  with  the  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  he  conducted  the  war  department.  Narbonne's  nominal 
successor  was  an  insignificant  minister  named  De  Grave. 

The  ministry  was  completed  by  four  new  members,  two  of  them 
important  ones.  The  minister  of  finance  was  Claviere,  a  very 


238  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

honest  and  able  man,  who  had  been  one  of  the  intimate  counsellors 
of  Mirabeau,  but  a  stranger  to  his  secret  connivances  with  the 
court  Eoland  was  chosen  minister  of  the  interior. 

The  first  time  that  Roland  appeared  before  the  king  wearing  a 
round  hat  in  place  of  a  three-cornered  chapeau,  his  hair  unpow- 
dered,  and  his  shoes  fastened  with  ties  instead  of  silver  buckles,  it 
caused  great  scandal  at  the  court,  where  until  now  a  remnant  of 
etiquette  had  been  preserved.  The  court  called  the  new  ministers 
the  sans-culottes  ministry. 

Nevertheless,  for  some  time  the  king  lived  apparently  on  good 
terms  with  the  new  ministers,  and  from  his  manner  of  speaking, 
made  Eoland  and  Claviere  believe  that  he  sincerely  desired  the 
Constitution;  but  Madame  Eoland  remained  distrustful,  and  fore- 
warned her  husband  and  her  friends. 

Some  days  after  the  entrance  of  Eoland  into  the  ministry,  the 
Girondins  committed  an  act  whose  moral  effect  was  unfortunate. 
Provence  and  Languedoc  were  still  in  agitation.  The  horror  caused 
by  the  massacres  of  Avignon  had  benefited  the  counter-revolution- 
ists. Avignon,  Aix,  Aries,  and  Carpentras,  had  become  centres  of 
reaction.  The  revolutionists  were  by  turns  disquieted  and  irritated, 
and  from  Marseilles,  their  headquarters,  they  had  begun  to  direct 
expeditions  against  the  reactionists.  After  having  gone  to  Aix,  and 
disarmed  a  Swiss  regiment  which  favored  the  aristocrats,  they  had 
marched  upon  Aries  to  prevent  the  counter-revolutionists  making 
that  place  their  parade-ground.  The  Assembly  had  approved  their 
action. 

The  trial  of  the  assassins  of  the  Avignon  Glaciere  was  diffi- 
cult and  perilous  in  the  midst  of  this  war  of  opposing  passions. 
Vergniaud  and  his  friends  induced  the  Assembly  to  vote  by  a  large 
majority  an  amnesty  for  all  crimes  against  the  Eevolution  com- 
mitted in  the  Comtat  and  in  Avignon  (March  19). 

Another  incident  irritated  the  Feuillants,  the  moderate  party, 
still  more  than  the  Avignon  amnesty,  and  separated  them  yet  fur- 
ther from  the  Girondins. 

After  the  unfortunate  affair  of  Nanci  in  August,  1790,  forty  of 


1794.]          THE  QUESTION   OF  WAR  AND  PEACE.  239 

the  Swiss  soldiers  of  the  Chateauvieux  regiment  had  been  sent  to 
the  galleys  at  Brest.  The  Legislative  Assembly  had  recently  de- 
creed their  liberation.  This  satisfied  neither  the  people  of  Paris  nor 
the  Jacobins.  The  Parisians  would  always  remember  that  these 
French-speaking  Swiss,  these  Vaudois,  had  refused  to  march  against 
them  upon  the  day  of  the  taking  of  the  Bastille.  Very  recently 
the  aristocratic  government  of  Berne  had  forced  the  municipal  mag- 
istrates of  the  Vaud  to  make  the  "  amende  honorable  "  to  Lausanne, 
under  vain  pretexts,  but  in  reality  on  account  of  the  sympathy 
which  the  Vaudois  manifested  for  the  French  Eevolution. 

A  popular  festival  was  prepared  in  Paris  to  celebrate  the  deliver- 
ance of  these  forty  Swiss  from  the  galleys.  In  this  project  grave 
annoyances  could  be  discerned  for  military  discipline ;  but  the  party 
journals  of  the  Feuillants  surpassed  all  bounds,  and  carried  on  their 
opposition  with  a  violence  equal  to  that  of  the  counter-revolutionary 
sheets.  They  foresaw  in  this  fete  an  apology  for  sedition  and  mur- 
der, and  a  mortal  outrage  to  the  national  guard.  Marat  and  Hebert 
on  their  part  clamored  for  civil  war,  and  seemed  to  justify  the  ter- 
rible predictions  of  the  Feuillants. 

The  festival,  nevertheless,  passed  without  disorder.  The  munici- 
pality had  forbidden  the  appearance  of  any  armed  force ;  the  crowd 
was  its  own  police,  and  in  response  to  the  advocates  of  civil  war,  at 
the  head  of  the  cortege  they  bore  two  coffins,  symbolizing  the  dead 
of  the  two  parties,  the  victims  of  Nanci,  whom  they  reunited  in  the 
same  regrets  (April  15). 

The  Chateauvieux  fete  restored  the  red  cap  to  fashion.  The 
Swiss  prisoners  had  worn  from  Brest  that  cap  which  galley-slaves 
wear  in  common  with  the  sailors  of  the  Provencal  and  Italian  coasts. 
The  populace  resumed  the  cap  to  do  honor  to  the  freed  prisoners. 

At  the  occurrence  of  this  festival  the  long  debates  upon  peace 
and  war  were  approaching  their  end. 

Dumouriez  had  kept  his  promise  to  the  Jacobins.  The  very  day 
when  he  presented  himself  before  them  (March  19)  he  had  sent  a 
despatch  to  Vienna  in  response  to  the  demand  made  by  Austria  for 
the  disbandment  of  the  three  armies,  requiring  a  reduction  of  Aus- 


240  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

tria's  forces  in  Belgium,  and  a  prompt  and  categorical  response.  At 
the  very  same  time  he  was  renewing  Narbonne's  attempt  to  nego- 
tiate with  Prussia,  and  was  working  to  prepare  movements  in  Bel- 
gium against  Austria. 

The  Austrian  government  was  warned  of  the  plans  of  Dumouriez. 
A  secret  agent  of  the  king  and  queen  informed  Leopold's  successor 
that  the  faction  which  ruled  the  kingdom  desired  without  delay  to 
make  two  attacks  at  once,  in  the  German  empire  and  upon  the 
territory  of  the  king  of  Sardinia.  It  was  essentially  important  that 
the  forces  of  the  king  of  Hungary  and  the  king  of  France  should 
march  on  without  awaiting  the  declaration  of  the  other  powers,  and 
unite  immediately  upon  the  Ehine. 

March  20,  the  queen  wrote  to  Count  Merci,  who  governed  Bel- 
gium for  Austria,  that  Dumouriez,  no  longer  doubting  the  accord 
of  the  powers,  from  the  movement  of  soldiers,  had  a  project  to  an- 
ticipate them  by  attacking  Savoy  and  Lie'ge.  "  It  is  La  Fayette's 
army  which  is  going  to  make  this  last  attack,"  wrote  the  queen. 
"Here  is  the  result  of  yesterday's  council" 

Marie  Antoinette  thus  made  known  to  Austria  the  plan  just 
arranged  between  Dumouriez  and  the  generals. 

Brissot  had  said  that  to  secure  the  triumph  of  the  Revolution 
great  treasons  were  needed.  The  treasons  had  been  committed; 
they  were  inevitable  since  Varennes. 

Soon  after  the  secret  despatch  of  Marie  Antoinette  to  Merci,  the 
court  received  tidings  far  worse  for  the  counter-revolutionists  than 
the  death  of  the  emperor.  Gustave  III.,  the  king  of  Sweden,  the 
favorite  hero  of  the  emigrants,  the  future  general  of  the  coalition, 
had  been  assassinated  at  a  masked  ball  on  the  night  of  March  16. 
This  prince,  the  hope  of  the  French  aristocrats,  whose  privileges  he 
had  pretended  he  was  soon  to  restore,  had  fallen  victim  to  a  con- 
spiracy of  Swedish  aristocrats,  whom  he  had  deprived  of  power  in 
order  to  establish  an  absolute  monarchy  in  Sweden. 

His  death  gave  as  much  delight  to  the  constitutionalists  as  con- 
sternation to  the  emigrants.  The  latter  had  calculated  to  make 
him  the  instrument  of  their  vengeance.  A  counter-revolutionary 


1794.]          THE  QUESTION  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE.  241 

almanac  published  at  Coblentz,  January  1,  1792,  had  an  engraving 
representing  the  king  of  Sweden  on  horseback,  surrounded  by  the 
Count  d'Artois,  the  prince  of  Conde,  the  Marquis  de  Bouille,  and 
other  emigrant  leaders,  assisting  at  the  hanging  of  the  principal 
members  of  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

The  crisis  of  war  was  hastening  on. 

Dumouriez's  despatch  of  March  19  met  on  the  way  a  note  sent 
in  the  name  of  the  new  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  This  note, 
addressed  to  the  French  government,  and  not  to  the  king,  as  if  to 
separate  Louis  XVI.  from  the  national  government,  repeated  under 
a  more  austere  form,  the  fiery  recriminations  of  the  emperor  against 
the  "sanguinary  and  furious  faction  of  the  Jacobins."  The  king 
of  Hungary  and  Bohemia  did  not  believe  it  possible  that  the  powers 
would  withdraw  from  the  alliance  they  had  made  with  the  emperor 
before  France  had  withdrawn  the  grave  motives  that  necessitated  it. 

Dumouriez  replied  in  a  letter  dictated  by  Louis  XVL  to  his 
nephew,  the  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia  Louis  XVI.  declared 
that  his  honor  was  pledged  to  maintain  the  Constitution,  that  he 
had  sworn  to  live  free  or  to  die  with  his  French  subjects,  and  that 
he  would  send  an  ambassador  extraordinary  to  his  nephew  to  ex- 
plain to  him  the  means  yet  remaining  to  prevent  the  calamity  of 
war  now  threatening  Europe. 

The  ambassador  extraordinary  did  not  depart.  April  15,  a  de- 
spatch from  the  ordinary  ambassador  of  France  to  Vienna  apprized 
Dumouriez  that  Austria  demanded : 

1.  Satisfaction  for  the  princes  holding  possessions ; 

2.  Satisfaction  to  the  Pope  for  the  county  of  Avignon ; 

3.  Such  measures  that  the  government  of  France  might  have  a 
force  sufficient  to  repress  all  movements  that  could  cause  disquiet 
to  other  states. 

That  is  to  say,  France  must  restore  the  fiefs  in  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine, deliver  the  inhabitants  of  Avignon  and  the  Comtat  to  the 
Pope,  and  make  its  constitution  monarchical. 

April  20,  the  king  went  to  the  Assembly  with  his  new  ministers. 
Dumouriez  read  a  report  upon  the  situation,  summing  up  vehe- 
16 


242  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  IX. 

mently  all  the  grievances  of  the  French  Revolution  against  Austria, 
and  concluding  with  a  declaration  of  war. 

The  king  in  a  tremulous  voice  said,  that  with  the  advice  of  all 
his  ministers  he  had  adopted  the  conclusion  of  the  report.  "  I  have 
exhausted,"  added  he,  "  all  means  of  maintaining  peace.  Now  "  — 
here  he  hesitated  —  then  with  tears  in  his  eyes  he  said,  "  I  come, 
according  to  the  terms  of  the  Constitution,  to  formally  propose  war 
against  the  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia." 

The  king  was  not  applauded  as  he  had  been  on  the  14th  of 
December ;  it  was  only  too  evident  that  he  was  acting  under  con- 
straint 

The  Assembly  deliberated  that  same  evening.  The  majority  was 
not  for  an  instant  doubtful  It  was  the  Feuillant,  Pastoret,  who 
first  proposed  the  declaration  of  war.  Another  Feuillant,  Becquet, 
tried  to  contend  against  the  current.  "  We  have  need  of  our  armies," 
said  he,  "  to  restrain  seditions  at  home."  This  excited  loud  mur- 
murs. As  he  spoke  of  the  disorder  of  the  finances,  a  voice  exclaimed, 
"  You  are  not  acquainted  with  them !  We  have  more  money  than 
we  need." 

It  was  Cambon,  he  who  was  to  be  the  great  organizer  of  the 
resources  of  the  Revolution. 

Becquet  spoke  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  French  armies.  He 
drew  a  frightful  picture  of  the  dangers  of  a  general  war,  and  de- 
clared that  all  Europe  was  ready  to  unite  against  France.  He 
pretended  that  negotiations  might  still  avail ;  that  peace  might  be 
preserved  by  giving  indemnities  to  the  dispossessed  princes  and  to 
the  Pope. 

It  was  replied  that  this  was  no  longer  a  question  as  to  pecuniary 
indemnities,  but  whether  France  was  willing  to  restore  Avignon  to 
the  Pope  and  re-establish  feudality  in  Alsace  and  in  Lorraine. 

"M.  Becquet,"  said  Guadet,  "has  proved  only  one  thing;  it  is 
that  the  French  nation  could  not  without  cowardice  refuse  the  war 
which  has  been  declared  against  it." 

A  partisan  of  Robespierre  tried  to  arrest  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
Assembly  by  speaking  of  the  treasons  which  might  accompany  war, 


1794.]          THE  QUESTION  OF  PEACE  AND  WAR.  243 

and  demanded  that  the  discussion  should  occupy  at  least  three  ses- 
sions. 

"  Let  us  vote  before  we  separate,"  replied  Mailhe.  "  Let  us  make 
this  great  French  nation  see  by  a  prompt,  unanimous  decision  that 
we  believe  it  invincible,  and  it  will  be  so !  Liberty  presents  among 
us  an  array  of  forces  such  as  has  never  yet  existed  among  any  people." 

"  We  have  four  million  free  armed  citizens,"  said  Guadet. 

Another  orator  rose ;  it  was  Aubert-Dubayet,  the  future  defender 
of  Mayence. 

"The  allied  powers,"  said  he,  "have  the  audacity  to  claim  the 
right  of  giving  us  a  government ;  we  desire  war,  since  it  is  necessary 
to  defend  our  liberty.  Though  we  all  perish,  the  last  of  us  should 
pronounce  the  decree." 

"Let  us  declare  war  upon  kings  and  peace  to  nations!"  cried  Merlin 
de  Thionville,  who  was  to  be  upon  the  Ehine  the  companion-in- 
arms of  Aubert-Dubayet. 

The  Assembly  unanimously,  less  seven  votes,  passed  the  follow- 
ing decree  drawn  up  by  the  Girondin,  Gensonne :  — 

"  Whereas  Francis  I.,  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  has  refused 
to  renounce  the  agreement  formed  by  the  court  of  Vienna  with 
several  powers  against  the  independence  and  the  safety  of  the 
French  nation; 

"  Whereas  he  has  formally  attacked  the  sovereignty  of  the  French 
nation  by  declaring  that  he  desires  to  sustain  the  pretensions  of 
the  German  princes  who  have  possessions  in  France  for  which  the 
French  nation  has  not  ceased  to  offer  indemnities : 

"The  National  Assembly,  declaring  the  French  nation  faithful 
to  the  principles  consecrated  by  its  Constitution,  —  to  undertake  no 
war  with  a  view  to  conquest,  and  never  to  employ  its  forces  against 
the  liberties  of  any  people,  —  and  taking  up  arms  only  in  defence 
of  its  liberty  and  independence; 

"Decrees  war  against  the  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia." 

Thus  began  the  great  war  of  the  ^Revolution. 


244  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    LEGISLATIVE    ASSEMBLY    (continued}.  —  THE   FALL    OF   ROYALTY. 
—  THE  TWENTIETH  OF  JUNE. — THE  TENTH  OF  AUGUST. 

April  20  to  August  10,  1792. 

rTlHE  declaration  of  war  had  not  united  contending  parties; 
JL  there  were  still  intestine  quarrels,  not  only  between  the 
friends  and  the  enemies  of  the  Revolution,  but  between  the  revo- 
lutionists themselves;  not  only  between  Feuillants  and  Jacobins, 
but  between  Jacobins  and  Jacobins. 

An  unfortunate  dispute  between  Brissot  and  Camille  Desmoulins 
had  caused  great  excitement.  Their  warfare  had  been  carried  on 
through  the  journals,  and  Camille  had  made  the  first  attack.  Ex- 
citable as  his  adversary,  and  more  impetuous  and  uncontrollable, 
Camille  had  allowed  himself  to  be  led  on  to  deplorable  excesses,  to 
senseless  accusations.  He  accused  Brissot  of  having  sold  himself 
to  the  court,  of  having  voluntarily  compromised  the  Revolution 
by  a  premature  advocacy  of  the  republic,  of  having  plotted  the 
ruin  of  Saint  Domingo  by  urging  the  immediate  emancipation  of 
the  blacks,  of  having,  in  concert  with  the  tyrant  La  Fayette,  whom 
Camille  compared  to  Charles  IX.,  prepared  the  way  for  the  massacre 
of  the  Champ  de  Mars,  that  new  Saint  Bartholomew ! 

Camille  Desmoulins,  an  intimate  friend  of  Danton,  was  then 
still  more  under  another  influence,  that  of  Robespierre,  whom  he 
called  his  dear  and  venerated  college  comrade.  It  was  Robespierre 
who  had  instigated  that  sanguinary  pamphlet  of  Camille's,  entitled 
"  Brissot  Unveiled." 

Camille's  wild  exaggerations,  taken  seriously  by  minds  sombre 
and  credulous  of  evil,  —  and  there  were  many  such  minds  among 
the  Jacobins,  —  were  at  a  later  day  to  result  in  consequences  which 
would  bring  poignant  remorse  to  their  author. 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  245 

Bobespierre  and  Madame  Eoland,  who  had  been  warm  friends 
but  had  now  become  bitter  political  enemies,  both  maintained 
to  the  end  the  religious  faith  of  their  master,  Kousseau;  but  in 
Robespierre  this  faith,  while  preserving  the  grandeur,  retained 
nothing  of  the  sweetness  of  the  gospel,  and  became  a  sort  of  im- 
placable religious  fanaticism. 

The  plan  pursued  by  Robespierre  and  his  friends  was  to  embrace 
in  one  and  the  same  accusation,  La  Fayette  and  the  party  which 
they  called  by  turns  Girondin  and  Brissotin.  After  a  furious  ha- 
rangue against  La  Fayette,  Robespierre  indulged  in  vague  recrimi- 
nations against  traitors  and  intriguers  in  general,  and  against  a 
monstrous  conspiracy,  whose  authors  or  whose  aim  he  did  not 
clearly  designate.  Brissot,  through  his  journal,  indignantly  re- 
plied to  the  covert  attack,  and  called  upon  this  new  tribunal  to 
demand  the  heads  of  the  conspirators  it  accused.  "We  ask  our- 
selves," said  he,  "  whether  Robespierre  is  insane,  whether  he  is  led 
on  by  wounded  vanity  or  has  been  set  at  work  by  the  civil  list." 

This  last  imprudent  and  ill-timed  clause  attacked  Robespierre 
just  where  he  was  invulnerable;  he  had  never  been  suspected  of 
having  received  bribes  from  the  court  or  from  any  individual. 

The  subaltern  leaders  replied  by  denouncing  Brissot  and  Con- 
dorcet  at  the  Jacobins'. 

Brissot  at  the  same  place  eloquently  defended  himself  and 
Condorcet.  He  showed  the  chimerical  nature  of  the  project  at- 
tributed to  La  Fayette,  the  project  of  seeking  to  usurp  the  supreme 
power  and  make  himself  Protector,  as  Cromwell  had  done  in  Eng- 
land. "  We  have  more  to  fear  from  tribunes  than  from  protectors," 
he  said;  and  he  set  forth  the  odious  ingratitude  of  these  attacks 
upon  the  illustrious  Condorcet,  the  friend  and  co-worker  of  Voltaire 
and  D'Alembert,  — the  last  survivor  of  the  philosophers  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  the  fathers  of  the  Revolution. 

Guadet  challenged  Robespierre  to  explain  the  great  conspiracy 
he  had  promised  to  denounce.  "  For  my  part,"  said  he, "  I  denounce 
Robespierre,  a  man  who  incessantly  sets  his  pride  above  the  public 
interest,  a  man  whom  either  ambition  or  misfortune  has  made  the 
idol  of  the  populace." 


246  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

Robespierre  made  a  feeble  reply.  The  famous  conspiracy,  as  lie 
explained  it,  was  a  system  tending  to  pervert  the  public  conscience, 
a  series  of  manoeuvres  designed  to  make  the  Jacobin  Club  the  instru- 
ment of  intrigue  and  ambition.  All  this  was  vague  and  intangible. 

In  a  session  on  the  28th  of  April  Robespierre  assumed  the  defen- 
sive, and  pleaded  his  cause  with  great  dignity  and  ability ;  when  he 
epoke  of  himself,  he  was  eloquent,  but  he  attacked  the  philosophers 
of  the  eighteenth  century  whose  great  services  Brissot  had  recalled, 
pretending  that  Rousseau  was  the  only  true  philosopher.  He 
thus  revived  the  unfortunate  quarrels  of  Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  and 
divided  that  which  philosophy  should  unite  in  the  national  tradi- 
tions. 

Robespierre  arrogantly  offered  peace  to  his  enemies ;  Petion,  whose 
influence  he  had  made  great  efforts  to  win,  proposed  a  general  recon- 
ciliation. This  motion  was  at  first  well  received,  but  the  next  day 
Robespierre  and  his  friends  raised  loud  outcries  over  the  publica- 
tion of  his  discourse  by  Brissot  and  Guadet.  After  much  tumult 
from  the  tribunes  filled  with  men  and  women  devoted  to  Robes- 
pierre, the  society  of  the  Jacobins  in  the  absence  of  Brissot  and 
his  friends,  passed  a  resolution  stating  that  the  printed  accounts 
of  Brissot  and  Guadet  misrepresented  events  which  had  taken  place 
in  its  midst,  and  that  the  accusations  against  Robespierre  were  belied 
by  his  public  reputation  as  well  as  by  his  whole  conduct  (April  30). 

Robespierre  thus  came  out  victor  from  this  long  and  obstinate 
contest.  To  overthrow  him  was  no  easy  undertaking.  He  was,  as 
Guadet  had  said,  the  idol  of  the  people,  or  at  least  of  a  party  of  the 
people.  The  populace,  so  much  accused  of  fickleness,  was  not  fickle 
in  regard  to  him  who  was  himself  immovable.  From  the  first  out- 
break of  the  Revolution  he  had  always  been  seen  in  the  same  place, 
saying  the  same  things,  while  men  and  things  were  constantly 
changing  around  him.  His  popularity  had  struck  deep  root. 

But  now  the  very  men  whose  political  ideas  were  akin  to  his 
own  had  begun  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  him.  A  very  remark- 
able article  in  the  "  Paris  Revolutions  "  during  the  month  of  April, 
1792,  draws  a  faithful  portrait  of  him,  and  gives  him  some  excel- 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  247 

lent  advice :  "  Incorruptible  Bobespierre  [this  was  the  name  the 
people  gave  him],  allow  us  to  tell  you  the  truth  with  the  same 
courage  you  have  told  it  to  the  enemies  of  your  country.  People  be- 
lieve that  you  cherish  the  idea  of  some  day  becoming  dictator ;  they 
are  wrong.  You  are  sometimes  eloquent,  but  you  cannot  dissemble 
from  yourself  the  fact  that  you  have  not  received  from  nature  those 
external  advantages  which  give  eloquence  to  words  most  devoid  of 
meaning;  you  well  know  that  you  do  not  possess  that  surpassing 
genius  which  sways  men  at  its  will  If  Kobespierre  could  only  for- 
get himself  a  little  more  !  How  melancholy  he  is  at  seeing  all  de- 
nounce him,  from  La  Fayette  to  the  '  Chronicle '  [Condorcet's  jour- 
nal]. The  defender  of  liberty  sets  himself  up  as  an  inquisitor  of 
public  opinion,  when  this  opinion  is  exercised  against  himself.  Not 
to  believe  with  him  that  he  alone  has  accomplished  all  the  good 
effected  by  the  Eevolution  is  not  to  be  a  good  patriot.  Robespierre, 
sacrifice  to  the  country,  to  circumstances,  to  yourself,  your  animosi- 
ties, your  self-love,  your  vengeance ! " 

A  loyal  and  friendly  voice  thus  sought  to  arrest  Robespierre  on 
the  verge  of  the  abyss  into  which  he  was  about  to  precipitate  others, 
and  to  precipitate  himself. 

While  this  intestine  warfare  was  going  on  among  the  Jacobins, 
military  operations  had  begun  against  Austria.  At  the  declaration 
of  war,  the  three  French  armies  had  taken  their  stations :  the  first, 
between  the  sea  and  the  Meuse,  under  Marshal  de  Rochambeau ;  the 
second,  between  the  Meuse  and  the  Vosges,  under  General  La 
Fayette ;  the  third,  between  the  Vosges  and  the  Rhine,  under  Mar- 
shal Luckner.  A  fourth  army,  formed  in  the  East  under  General 
Montesquieu,  was  to  invade  Savoy;  the  king  of  Sardinia,  to  whom 
Savoy  belonged,  having  provoked  France  by  the  arrest  of  the  French 
Charge  d' Affaires  in  Piedmont. 

These  armies  were  as  yet  incomplete  and  imperfectly  organized. 
The  regiments  of  the  line  were  not  full ;  the  battalions  of  volunteers 
lacked  discipline  and  equipments ;  the  regular  soldiers  had  not"  re- 
covered from  the  shock  caused  by  the  emigration.  Nearly  two 
thousand  officers  had  emigrated,  and  many  of  these  had  carried 


248  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

away  the  regimental  flag  and  cash-box.  There  was  reason  to  sus- 
pect the  good  faith  of  others,  and  that  they  remained  only  'to  prove 
traitors  at  the  moment  of  combat.  All  the  officers  of  the  fortifica- 
tions and  most  of  the  artillery  officers  were  patriots,  but  many  of 
those  belonging  to  other  arms  of  the  service,  especially  to  the  cav- 
alry, were  suspected.  La  Fayette  had  made  great  efforts  to  restore 
discipline,  and  he  had  succeeded  in  his  own  army,  but  Eochambeau 
and  Luckner  had  not  met  with  a  like  success.  La  Fayette  had  in- 
troduced a  very  important  innovation,  —  the  light  artillery  created 
in  the  Prussian  army  by  Frederic  the  Great. 

The  plan  adopted  for  the  campaign  had  been  an  attack  upon 
Belgium  by  the  combined  armies  of  La  Fayette  and  Rochambeau. 
One  of  Rochambeau's  lieutenants  was  to  march  upon  Mons  and 
thence  upon  Brussels ;  two  other  corps  were  to  facilitate  this  move- 
ment by  diversions  upon  Tournai  and  Fumes;  La  Fayette  was  to 
lead  the  attack  upon  Namur.  The  inhabitants  of  Belgium  and 
Lie"ge  were  expected  to  rise  at  the  appearance  of  the  French.  Du-* 
mouriez  had  promised  not  to  engage  in  hostilities  until  the  10th 
of  May.  In  provoking  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  20th  of  April, 
he  hastened  by  twelve  days  the  invasion  of  the  country,  and  threw 
the  generals  into  embarrassment.  La  Fayette,  who  was  at  Metz, 
had  extreme  difficulty  in  bringing  ten  thousand  men  in  five  days 
from  Metz  to  Givet,  and  was  obliged  to  leave  behind  the  greater 
portion  of  his  forces. 

Rochambeau's  lieutenants  passed  the  frontier  April  29.  A  de- 
tachment took  possession  of  Fumes.  Three  thousand  men,  com- 
manded by  General  Dillon,  advanced  upon  Tournai.  A  small 
Austrian  corps  came  out  to  meet  them.  Cries  of  treason  were  heard ; 
the  French  cavalry  disbanded,  passed  in  a  body  to  the  infantry,  and 
fled  to  Lille.  The  artillery  and  the  baggage  were  lost.  The  en- 
raged soldiers  killed  their  general,  a  refractory  priest,  and  some 
Austrian  prisoners. 

Meantime  another  general,  Biron,  had  marched  upon  Mons,  with 
seven  or  eight  thousand  men.  He  halted  upon  seeing  the  enemy 
well  posted  on  the  heights  before  the  town.  That  evening  two 


CITY   HALL   OF   VALENCIENNES. 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  249 

regiments  of  dragoons  mounted  their  horses  without  orders  from 
Biron,  and  turned  back,  crying,  "  We  are  betrayed ! "  Biron  was 
obliged  to  abandon  his  camp  and  fall  back  in  disorder  upon 
Valenciennes. 

In  both  these  unfortunate  affairs  the  cavalry  had  caused  the  con- 
fusion; the  Parisian  volunteers  of  Biron's  corps  had  shown  much 
discipline  and  firmness. 

La  Fayette  received  this  bad  news  just  as  he  was  about  to  ad- 
vance from  Givet  to  Namur.  During  the  night  of  May  1st  nearly 
all  the  officers  of  one  of  his  regiments  deserted  to  the  enemy. 
It  has  been  ascertained  that  these  reverses,  in  which  the  great  war 
had  its  beginning,  were  the  work  of  treason.  La  Fayette,  conform- 
ably to  the  instructions  of  the  minister  of  war,  stopped  his  move- 
ment upon  Namur. 

The  effect  of  these  checks  was  to  inspire  boundless  confidence 
in  the  foreign  enemies  of  France.  The  favorites  of  the  king  of 
Prussia  said,  in  the  reviews  of  the  Prussian  army,  that  this  "  army 
of  -lawyers  "  would  disappear  at  the  first  shock,  and  there  would  be 
an  end  of  it  before  autumn.  In  Paris,  party  exasperation  redoubled. 
The  ultra  Jacobins,  instead  of  accusing  the  counter-revolutionists  of 
the  treason  which  had  thrown  panic  into  the  army,  laid  it  to  the 
charge  of  La  Fayette  and  his  friends,  and  incited  the  soldiers  to 
insubordination.  Marat  declared  in  his  journal  that  the  army 
had  only  one  thing  to  do ;  this  was  to  massacre  its  generals.  The 
Girondins,  feeling  the  necessity  of  quelling  this  spirit  of  anarchy, 
in  conjunction  with  the  Feuillants,  caused  the  accusation  of  Marat 
and  that  of  the  Abbe  Eoyou,  one  of  those  violent  counter-revolu- 
tionary journalists  who  openly  appealed  for  foreign  assistance. 

The  Assembly,  wishing  to  repress  civil  as  well  as  military  disor- 
ders, decreed  funeral  rites  in  honor  of  Mayor  D'Etampes,  who  had 
been  murdered  by  a  riotous  mob  while  seeking  to  prevent  the  pil- 
lage of  grain.  Robespierre  and  his  party  were  exasperated  at  the 
honors  rendered  to  a  magistrate  who  had  died  in  defence  of  the 
laws,  and  pretended  that  this  was  an  insult  to  the  people. 

Because  his  rivals  were  in  power,  Kobespierre  allowed  himself 


250  '  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

to  be  led  on  by  passion  to  uphold  anarchy  in  his  journal,  "  The  De- 
fender of  the  Constitution."  He  published  a  sort  of  act  of  accusa- 
tion against  the  Girondins,  filled  with  spiteful  declamation,  but 
devoid  of  truth  and  reason.  Among  other  alleged  grievances,  he 
dared  reproach  the  Girondins  for  not  having  protected  the  "  Avignon 
patriots,"  that  is  to  say,  the  butchers  of  the  Glaciere.  The  real 
fault  of  the  Girondins  was  having  granted  them  amnesty. 

Danton,  the  man  of  restless  activity,  the  chief  of  the  fiery  Cor- 
deliers, had  taken  sides  with  Eobespierre  at  the  Jacobin  club  upon 
the  question  of  imposts;  if  the  poorer  classes  declared  that  they 
could  not  pay  their  taxes,  Danton  and  Eobespierre  wishing  to 
gain  their  favor,  would  have  them  excused. 

The  Girondins,  while  attacked  by  the  ultra  Jacobins,  felt  them- 
selves at  the  same  time  menaced  by  the  counter-revolutionists,  and 
resumed  the  offensive  against  them. 

May  23,  Brissot  and  Gensonne'  denounced  to  the  National  As- 
sembly an  Austrian  committee  whose  existence  had  for  a  long  time 
been  suspected,  which  corresponded  with  foreign  powers,  thwarted 
political  and  military  measures,  and  gave  campaign  plans  to  the 
enemy.  Brissot  accused  by  name  the  former  ministers,  Montmorin 
and  Bertrand  de  Molleville.  This  denunciation  was  perfectly  well 
founded ;  by  the  side  of  the  official  ministry,  and  opposed  to  it,  there 
existed  a  secret  ministry.  Bertrand  de  Molleville  and  Montmorin, 
who  had  been  minister  of  foreign  affairs  before  Delessart,  had  re- 
mained privy  counsellors  of  the  king  and  queen,  and  had  been  the 
instigators  of  a  secret  mission  confided  by  Louis  XVI.  to  a  Genevois 
named  Mallet-Dupon,  to  the  kings  of  Hungary  and  Prussia.  This 
had  occurred  immediately  after  the  declaration  of  war. 

May  27,  the  Girondins  induced  the  Assembly  to  adopt  rigorous 
measures  against  the  refractory  priests,  who  were  accused  of  pro- 
voking murder  and  violence  against  the  constitutional  priests,  many 
of  them  preaching  to  the  peasants  that  whoever  paid  taxes  to  the 
revolutionary  government  would  be  damned.  After  a  long  and 
excited  debate,  the  Assembly  decreed  that  whenever  twenty  active 
citizens  of  a  canton  demanded  the  banishment  from  the  kingdom  of 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  251 

an  ecclesiastic  who  had  refused  to  take  the  oath,  if  the  district 
council  favored  this  demand,  the  director  of  the  department  should 
order  its  execution. 

This  was  to  enter  the  fatal  pathway  of  exceptional  laws ;  but  pop- 
ular fury  was  so  excited  that  very  often  banishment  alone  would 
save  the  life  of  a  refractory  priest 

Just  now  there  was  very  great  agitation  in  Paris ;  it  was  rumored 
that  the  king  was  forming  new  projects  for  departure,  that  the  As- 
sembly was  threatened  with  violence.  The  court  had  quite  a  redoubt- 
able force  at  its  disposal ;  the  Constitution  allowed  the  king  a  guard 
of  eighteen  hundred  men,  and  these  had  been  chosen  as  far  as  pos- 
sible from  counter-revolutionists.  Beside  these,  the  court  kept  se- 
cretly, at  its  own  expense,  more  than  four  thousand  adventurers, 
exercised  in  arms,  and  prepared  for  whatever  might  be  required  of 
them.  All  these  stalked  with  menacing  attitudes  around  the  As- 
sembly, and  in  case  of  need,  they  could  be  reinforced  by  the  regi- 
ment of  Swiss  guards  now  garrisoned  at  Neuilli  and  Courbevoie. 

May  28,  the  Assembly  decreed  the  disbandment  of  the  king's 
guard  and  the  accusation  of  its  commander. 

The  king's  first  thought  was  resistance ;  but  he  yielded,  and  the 
guard  which  had  been  the  queen's  great  reliance  was  dissolved- 
Henceforth  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette  must  rely  solely  upon 
foreign  arms. 

The  Girondins  continued  to  take  the  lead.  French  reverses  in 
Flanders  having  led  to  the  dismission  of  De  Grave,  the  minister  of 
war,  the  Girondins  had  replaced  him  by  a  man  of  their  own  party, 
Colonel  Servan,  a  meritorious  officer.  The  war  ministry  had  thus 
escaped  from  the  control  of  Dumouriez,  the  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  who  was  much  exasperated  at  the  change. 

The  good  understanding  between  the  Girondins  and  Dumouriez 
had  not  been  of  long  duration.  This  intriguing,  imperious  minister 
could  tolerate  neither  the  austerity  of  Koland  nor  the  independence 
of  Claviere  and  Servan ;  he  flattered  the  ultra  Jacobins  while  up- 
holding the  king  and  queen  against  his  colleagues. 

His  colleagues  erelong  ceased  to  defer  to  his  opinion.     On  the 


252  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

4th  of  June  Servan,  the  new  minister  of  war,  without  consulting 
Dumouriez,  proposed  that  the  Assembly  summon  to  Paris,  for  the 
annual  festival  of  the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  five  national  guards 
from  each  canton  of  France,  who  might  afterward  form  a  camp  of 
twenty  thousand  men  under  the  direction  of  Paris. 

These  twenty  thousand  federates  from  the  departments,  so  thought 
Servan  and  his  friends,  would  constitute  a  force  at  the  service  of  the 
Assembly  against  any  attempts  at  reaction  the  Austrian  committee 
might  excite  in  case  of  new  reverses  on  the  frontier,  and  perhaps 
also  against  the  anarchical  movements  fomented  by  the  Marats  and 
the  Heberts. 

The  court  continued  to  pay  the  disbanded  guards,  and  they  were 
known  to  be  always  at  its  disposal. 

The  Feuillants  on  the  one  side  and  Eobespierre  on  the  other, 
opposed  Servan's  project.  Brissot  and  the  Girondin  journals  ac- 
cused Robespierre  of  being  in  accord  with  the  Austrian  committee. 
The  staff-officers  of  the  national  guard  devoted  to  La  Fayette,  who 
was  alienating  himself  more  and  more  from  the  Girondins,  circu- 
lated a  petition  against  Servan's  plan,  under  pretence  that  it  was 
an  affront  to  the  national  guard  of  Paris. 

The  decree  for  the  camp  of  twenty  thousand  men  nevertheless 
passed  the  Assembly  on  the  8th  of  June.  The  Girondin  ministers 
urged  the  king  to  sanction  this  decree,  and  also  that  against  refractory 
priests,  which  remained  in  suspense  for  lack  of  the  royal  approval. 

The  king  deferred  his  response. 

Madame  Eoland  judged  a  crisis  inevitable.  She  saw  the  discord 
in  the  ministry,  and  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  conspiracies  of  that 
other  secret  ministry  denounced  by  Brissot.  She  feared  lest  the 
party  of  Robespierre  might  pretend  that  her  husband  and  the  other 
patriot  ministers  were  accomplices  in  the  very  intrigues  directed 
against  them.  The  ministers  had  not  been  able  to  agree  upon  the 
terms  of  a  letter  to  the  king,  proposed  by  Roland,  to  influence  his 
mind  if  it  were  possible,  and,  if  not,  to  state  fully  the  sentiments 
of  his  ministers.  Madame  Roland  drew  up  the  letter  in  the  name 
of  her  husband  alone. 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  253 

This  letter,  which  expressed  the  most  elevated  sentiments  in  the 
noblest  language,  demonstrated  to  the  king  the  necessity  of  dispel- 
ling public  distrust  by  giving  manifest  and  immediate  pledges  of  his 
attachment  to  the  Constitution.  The  pledges  demanded  of  the  king 
were  the  only  means,  the  letter  declared,  of  preventing  an  immi- 
nent and  terrible  catastrophe.  "  The  time  for  drawing  back  is  past ; 
the  Revolution  is  mentally  accomplished;  it  will  end  in  blood  if 
wisdom  does  not  foresee  the  calamities  it  is  still  possible  to  avert. 
If  force  is  attempted  against  the  Assembly  or  against  Paris,  all 
France  will  rise,  and,  rending  itself  in  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  will 
develop  that  sombre  energy,  mother  of  virtues  and  of  crimes,  always 
fatal  to  those  who  have  provoked  it." 

The  king  and  queen,  much  irritated,  had  Dumouriez  summoned. 
"  Do  you  believe,"  said  Marie  Antoinette  to  him,  "  that  the  king 
ought  longer  to  bear  the  insolence  of  Eoland  and  his  colleagues  ? " 

"  No,  madame,"  replied  he ;  "  the  king  ought  to  dismiss  all  his 
ministers." 

"  That  is  not  my  intention,"  said  Louis  XVI.  "  I  wish  you  to 
remain,  but  you  must  rid  me  of  these  three  factious  ones." 

This  was  what  Dumouriez  expected ;  but  he  made  his  conditions. 
Although  he  had  had  a  violent  quarrel  with  Servan  in  regard  to  the 
motion  presented  by  him  to  the  Assembly,  he  judged  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  resist  the  decree  concerning  the  twenty  thousand 
federates  and  the  priests.  He  energetically  said  so  to  the  king. 

The  king  yielded  as  to  the  camp  of  twenty  thousand  men,  but 
he  for  a  long  time  resisted  upon  the  question  of  the  priests ;  then, 
at  the  entreaties  of  the  queen  herself,  he  assented. 

The  next  day,  June  12,  Servan  was  dismissed,  and  the  king 
gave  the  ministry  of  war  to  Dumouriez ;  Roland  and  Claviere  were 
removed  on  the  13th.  Men  proposed  by  Dumouriez,  and  without 
political  stability,  were  chosen  in  their  place. 

The  three  Girondin  ministers  announced  their  dismission  to  the 
Assembly,  and  Roland  sent  a  copy  of  his  letter. 

The  Assembly  declared,  almost  unanimously,  that  the  three  de- 
posed ministers  carried  with  them  the  regrets  and  esteem  of  the 


254  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

nation,  and  ordered  Eoland's  letter  to  be  sent  to  the  eighty-three 
departments.  This  was  repeating  Narbonne's  dismission  under 
most  aggravated  circumstances. 

On  the  15th  of  June  Dumouriez  resigned  his  place  in  the  minis- 
try, reserving  for  himself  a  command  in  the  army.  The  king  formed 
a  Feuillant  ministry  of  obscure  individuals,  who  at  once  resumed  the 
work  which  the  secret  ministry,  "  the  Austrian  committee,"  had  pur- 
sued before  them.  An  effort  was  made  to  buy  up  the  popular  leaders, 
the  heads  of  insurrections ;  but  the  agents  employed  as  intermediates 
very  often  kept  the  money  for  their  own  use.  The  court  imagined 
that  it  had  won  over  Danton,  and  gave  him  its  confidence. 

There  was  great  excitement  among  the  people  of  Paris,  who  saw 
at  the  Tuileries  only  enemies  and  allies  of  foreign  powers  now  that 
the  patriotic  ministry  had  departed.  An  explosion  seemed  inevita- 
ble. At  this  critical  moment  La  Fayette  interposed. 

La  Fayette  had  become  more  and  more  involved  in  the  false 
position  he  had  occupied  since  the  return  of  the  king  and  queen 
from  Varennes.  He  was  on  ill  terms  both  with  Dumouriez  and  the 
Girondins ;  with  Eoland,  as  minister  of  the  interior,  he  had  carried 
on  a  sharp  correspondence  in  which  the  provocations  had  been  on 
his  side,  and  he  was  not  prepared  for  the  overtures  at  reconciliation 
made  him  by  the  Girondins ;  and  yet  between  him  and  them  there 
was  no  real  difference  of  opinion.  like  them,  he  longed  for  a  Re- 
public, and  they  as  well  as  he  wished  to  avoid  its  sudden  and  for- 
cible introduction.  Upon  the  day  of  Servan's  nomination  to  the 
ministry,  Madame  Roland  wrote  to  him,  "We  must  enforce  the 
Constitution  and  show  Europe  a  ministry  sincerely  in  its  favor." 

But  La  Fayette  was  influenced  by  his  surroundings,  far  less  patri- 
otic and  democratic  than  he,  and  by  his  wife,  —  a  pious  and  excellent 
woman,  but  a  royalist  and  a  devout  Catholic.  La  Fayette  was  always 
dreaming  of  conciliating  the  king  and  queen  and  the  moderate  royal- 
ists ;  he  would  not  see,  what  the  Girondists  saw  so  well,  the  con- 
nivance of  the  king  and  queen  with  the  enemy,  and  the  consequent 
need  of  depriving  them  of  effective  power  both  for  their  own  safety 
and  that  of  the  commonwealth. 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE   ASSEMBLY.  255 

La  Fayette  despatched  from  his  camp  to  the  Assembly  a  long 
letter,  in  which  he  attacked  the  fallen  ministry,  making  no  distinc- 
tion between  Durnouriez  and  his  Girondin  adversaries,  "  that  Jacobin 
faction,  the  author  of  all  the  disorders  of  France,"  and  the  foreign 
powers  allied  in  attacking  the  national  sovereignty.  He  at  the  same 
time  wrote  to  the  king,  urging  him  to  maintain  his  constitutional 
rights. 

While  La  Fayette  was  thus  compromising  himself  by  favoring 
royalty,  the  queen  was  paying  for  royalist  libels  that  might  ruin  him. 
He  knew  this,  but  he  did  not  know  that  the  real  ministry,  the  se- 
cret ministers  of  the  king  and  queen,  were  sending  information 
against  him  to  Brussels,  then  under  the  rule  of  Count  de  Merci,  the 
former  Austrian  ambassador  to  Versailles,  and  the  counsellor  of 
Marie  Antoinette.  In  a  letter  of  May  19,  Montmorin  urged  the 
Austrian  generals  to  direct  their  especial  efforts  against  La  Fayette's 
army,  so  that  a  disgraceful  repulse  might  dispel  "  this  constitutional 
phantom  to  the  profit  of  the  true  monarchy." 

On  the  18th  of  June  La  Fayette's  letter  was  read  before  the 
Assembly.  It  was  loudly  applauded  by  the  Right  (the  Feuillants), 
and  even  by  the  Centre,  which  disliked  and  feared  the  Jacobins. 
But  the  Girondins  succeeded  in  defeating  the  proposition  to  send  this 
letter,  as  Roland's  had  been  sent,  to  the  eighty-three  departments. 

That  evening,  at  their  club,  the  Jacobins  furiously  denounced  La 
Fayette.  The  next  day  the  Girondin  journals  united  with  the  ultra 
Jacobin  journals  against  him,  Brissot  and  Condorcet,  who  had 
hitherto  favored  him,  writing  very  decidedly  against  his  letter. 

On  the  19th  the  king  signified  to  the  Assembly  his  final  refusal 
to  sign  the  two  decrees.  The  response  of  the  revolutionary  masses  to 
the  king  and  to  La  Fayette  was  not  long  delayed. 

On  the  day  of  the  dismissal  of  the  Girondin  ministry,  Robespierre, 
at  the  Jacobins',  protested  against  the  movement  which  he  foresaw, 
and  which  would  benefit  his  rivals.  He  maintained  the  necessity 
of  avoiding  partial  insurrections,  and  of  confining  all  efforts  to  the 
defence  of  the  Constitution. 

Danton  said  that  while  no  injury  should  be  done  the  queen,  she 


256  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

ought  to  be  sent  "back  to  Austria.  Would  to  Heaven  his  words 
had  been  heeded !  He  spoke  of  throwing  terror  into  a  perverse 
court,  but  he  did  not  indicate  the  means ;  he  seemed  to  be  acting  in 
an  underhand  manner. 

The  popular  leaders  did  not  listen  to  Eobespierre.  The  brewer 
Santerre,  of  the  Faubourg  Saint- Antoine,  Alexandra,  commander  of 
the  national  guard  of  the  Faubourg  Saint-Marceau,  the  butcher  Le- 
gendre,  and  other  men  of  action  concerted  together.  On  the  16th 
of  June  they  demanded  of  the  general  council  of  the  commune  per- 
mission for  the  inhabitants  of  these  two  faubourgs  to  assemble  with 
their  arms  upon  the  anniversary  of  the  oath  of  the  Jeu  de  Paume, 
to  plant  a  liberty-tree  on  the  Feuillant  terrace,  and  to  present  to  the 
king  and  the  National  Assembly  petitions  relative  to  the  existing 
state  of  affairs. 

The  general  council  replied  that  the  law  forbade  all  armed  assem- 
blages. The  petitioners  declared  that  the  citizens  could  not  be  pre- 
vented from  marching  under  arms,  and  that  the  Assembly  ought 
to  receive  them  well  as  it  had  before  received  deputations  from  the 
armed  national  guards. 

This  threw  the  mayor,  Petion,  into  great  embarrassment.  As  a 
friend  of  the  deposed  ministers,  this  demonstration  in  their  favor  did 
not  displease  him,  but  as  a  magistrate,  it  was  his  duty  to  prevent  it. 
He  proposed  to  the  directory  to  authorize  the  movement  on  con- 
dition that  the  petitioners  lay  down  their  arms  before  presenting 
themselves  to  the  Assembly  or  to  the  king. 

The  directory  refused,  and  repeated  its  orders  for  suppression. 

Petion  notified  the  battalion  leaders  of  the  national  guard  of  this 
refusal,  and  sent  into  the  faubourgs,  police-officers  to  enforce  obe- 
dience to  the  departmental  authority.  Meantime,  several  sections 
had  decided  in  opposition  to  the  directory,  and  ordered  the  bat- 
talions to  march. 

The  leaders  of  the  mob  declared  to  the  police-authorities  that 
they  wished  to  attack  no  one,  but  from  fear  that  they  might  be 
fired  upon  from  the  Tuileries,  they  insisted  upon  retaining  their 
arms.  The  authorities,  who  were  members  of  the  municipal  corps, 


SANTEKKE. 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  257 

for  the  most  part  sympathized  with  the  movement,  and  made  no 
great  effort  to  prevent  it. 

The  night  and  morning  had  passed  in  these  agitations  and  parley- 
ings,  but  toward  noon  two  columns  of  citizens  and  national  guards 
left  the  faubourgs  Saint- Antoine  and  Saint-Marceau,  and  proceeded 
toward  the  Tuileries,  increasing  in  numbers  as  they  advanced. 
The  municipal  corps,  which  was  a  sort  of  executive  council  chosen 
from  the  general  council  of  the  commune,  and  presided  over  by  the 
mayor,  in  defiance  of  the  directory,  passed  a  decree  authorizing  this 
commingling  of  citizens  whether  they  belonged  to  the  national 
guard  or  not. 

Between  these  opposing  orders,  the  commander  of  the  national 
guard  did  not  know  what  to  do,  but  he  tried  to  avoid  receiving  this 
undisciplined  host  into  his  corps. 

Vergniaud  demonstrated  to  the  Assembly  the  imprudence  of 
repelling  these  new  petitioners  after  having  admitted  so  many  oth- 
ers, and  advised  their  reception.  "  It  is  said,"  added  he,  "  that  this 
concourse  desires  to  present  an  address  to  the  king ;  if  we  believe 
that  any  danger  exists,  we  ought  to  share  it,  and  I  demand  that 
the  Assembly  send  sixty  commissioners  to  the  king."  He  ended  by 
proposing  a  decree  forbidding  henceforth  the  approach  of  any 
armed  force  to  the  Assembly's  place  of  session. 

The  Feuillants  should  have  eagerly  assented  to  this  proposition, 
which  would  authorize  that  which  it  was  not  in  their  power  to 
prevent,  and  which  would  protect  the  person  of  the  king.  They 
did  nothing  of  the  kind ;  they  demanded  rigorous  measures,  which 
would  have  led  to  extreme  perils,  and  did  not  sustain  the  motion 
which  would  have  shielded  the  royal  family. 

The  mob  was  at  the  gates.  After  a  tumultuous  discussion,  the 
Assembly  decided  to  receive  the  petitioners.  The  head  of  the 
column  entered.  One  of  the  leaders  read  a  document  which  vio- 
lently assailed  the  conduct  of  the  executive  power,  but  which 
reached  no  definite  conclusion,  —  thus  indicating  that  real  party 
leaders  did  not  direct  the  movement.  The  throng  defiled  for  two 
hours.  There  were  twenty  thousand  national  guards,  workmen, 
17 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

grain-porters,  disabled  soldiers,  women,  and  children,  in  uniforms, 
in  good  clothes,  in  rags.  They  marched  to  the  sound  of  music, 
women  danced  with  sabres  in  their  hands,  musicians  played  the 
Qa  Ira !  which  now  ended  with  this  ferocious  refrain :  — 

"To  the  lamp-post  with  aristocrats  !" 

Upon  leaving  the  Assembly,  whose  hall  was  upon  the  site  of  the 
Eue  Rivoli,  the  mob  crossed  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries.  Having 
arrived  upon  the  quay,  it  penetrated  the  Carrousel,  and  from  there 
sought  to  enter  the  royal  court.  The  court  of  the  Tuileries  was 
then  divided  into  three  courts,  separated  by  rows  of  buildings ;  that 
in  the  centre  was  called  the  royal  court. 

Louis  XVI.  was  in  the  hall  called  (Eil-de-Bceuf  (Bull's-eye),  with 
three  of  his  ministers,  some  faithful  servants,  and  his  sister,  Ma- 
dame Elizabeth,  a  beautiful  and  amiable  princess,  courageous  and 
devoted,  who  would  not  leave  him.  A  small  number  of  royalist 
national  guards  pressed  closely  around  the  king.  The  door  soon 
gave  way  beneath  blows  from  axes  and  but-ends  of  muskets. 

"  Sire,"  said  a  national  guardsman,  "  have  no  fear ! " 

"  I  have  no  fear,"  replied  the  king ;  "  place  your  hand  upon  my 
heart,  it  is  pure." 

After  many  threatening  words  and  demonstrations,  to  which  Louis 
XVI.  had  replied  by  formal  rather  than  real  concessions,  the  mob, 
still  persistent,  cried,  "  If  the  king  does  not  sanction  the  decrees,  we 
will  come  back  every  day ! " 

At  this  moment  Verguiaud  and  Isnard  made  way  through  the 
crowd.  They  declared  to  the  people  that  if  their  demands  were 
to  be  granted  at  this  moment,  they  would  see  in  such  concession 
only  the  result  of  violence,  and  that,  if  the  crowd  would  disperse, 
the  people  should  have  satisfaction. 

The  two  orators  were  well  received,  but  their  words  were  not 
heeded. 

Mayor  Pe'tion,  in  his  turn,  appeared,  and  was  loudly  applauded ; 
he  spoke  several  times,  and  the  excited  throng  grew  calm  upon  his 
assurance  that  the  king  could  not  help  acquiescing  in  the  manifest 
wish  of  the  people.  The  mob  at  length  dispersed  through  the 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  259 

apartments  which  the  king  had  caused  to  be  opened ;  curiosity  to 
see  the  interior  of  the  palace  had  aided  in  evacuating  the  CEil-de- 
BcEuf;  the  king  could  at  last  steal  into  an  adjoining  room  and 
disappear  through  a  concealed  door. 

This  scene  had  lasted  four  hours. 

The  mob,  upon  withdrawing,  crossed  the  king's  cabinet  where 
Marie  Antoinette  had  taken  refuge  when  she  had  been  prevented  re- 
joining her  husband.  Her  children  and  some  ladies  were  with  her, 
and  she  was  surrounded  by  national  guards.  The  arch-agitator  of 
the  Faubourg  Saint- Antoine,  the  brewer  Santerre,  placed  himself 
before  her,  not  as  an  enemy,  but  as  a  protector. 

The  rioters  had  entered  the  palace  with  a  far  more  hostile  feeling 
toward  Marie  Antoinette  than  toward  the  king ;  but  when  near  the 
object  of  their  hatred,  they  saw  only  a  mother  with  her  children. 
The  queen  encountered  neither  insult  nor  ferocity  from  this  throng, 
which  was  the  real  Parisian  populace,  with  its  variable  and  sincere 
emotions,  and  not  a  band  of  brigands,  like  that  of  the  morning  of 
October  6.  The  people  were  not  disposed  to  crime,  and  the  leaders 
did  not  urge  them  on.  Not  a  drop  of  blood  was  shed  this  day. 

The  king  had  been  materially  humiliated,  but  morally  elevated 
by  the  passive  and  resigned  courage  he  had  manifested.  He  had 
not  yielded,  he  had  promised  nothing,  and  he  had  upheld  his  con- 
stitutional right  in  maintaining  his  veto  against  the  two  decrees. 
Appearances  were  in  his  favor,  but  the  Constitution  could  not 
authorize  the  secret  correspondence  of  the  executive  power  with  the 
enemy  against  which  he  had  declared  war  in  the  name  of  France. 

On  the  next  day,  the  Assembly  passed  the  decree  proposed  by 
Vergniaud,  that  henceforth  no  gathering  of  armed  citizens  would  be 
admitted  at  its  bar.  The  king  sent  word  to  the  Assembly  that  he 
relied  upon  its  prudence  to  maintain  the  Constitution,  and  assure 
the  inviolability  and  liberty  of  the  hereditary  representative  of  the 
nation. 

On  the  22d  the  king  published  a  proclamation  in  an  energetic 
style  not  habitual  to  him.  After  denouncing  the  armed  invasion 
of  his  palace,  he  declared  that  violence  should  never  wrest  from 


260  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

him  his  consent  to  anything  he  believed  contrary  to  the  public 
good ;  that  he  would  give  to  all  authorities  an  example  of  courage 
and  firmness. 

The  National  Assembly,  in  the  name  of  the  nation  and  of  liberty, 
invited  all  good  citizens  to  aid  the  authorities  in  maintaining  the 
Constitution  and  the  public  order;  but  at  the  same -time  it  sum- 
moned the  new  ministers  to  render  an  account  of  what  they  had 
done  in  regard  to  the  religious  dissensions  and  the  reserve  army- 
force  which  there  was  an  urgent  necessity  of  placing  between  the 
frontier  and  Paris.  This  was  an  indication  that  the  Assembly 
would  still  persist  in  the  decrees  not  sanctioned  by  the  king. 

June  20,  the  departmental  directory  had  begun  an  inquisition 
against  Petion.  A  part  of  the  general  council  of  the  commune  sus- 
tained the  directory.  A  very  animated  remonstrance  against  the 
proceedings  of  June  20  was  put  in  circulation.  Some  of  the  remon- 
strants declared  themselves  ready  to  march  to  the  succor  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  king;  others  demanded  the  king's  deposition,  or 
announced  that  the  federates  would  come  to  Paris  in  spite  of  the  veto. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  La  Fayette  unexpectedly  appeared  at  the 
bar  of  the  Assembly. 

Having  formed  a  plan  for  concerted  action  with  General  Luckner, 
and  having  placed  his  army  in  a  safe  position  at  Maubeuge,  La 
Fayette  had  hastened  to  Paris.  He  demanded  a  hearing,  declaring 
that  the  deeds  of  violence  committed  on  the  20th  at  the  Tuileries 
had  excited  the  indignation  of  the  army  as  well  as  that  of  all 
good  citizens.  "  I  promised  my  brave  comrades  in  arms,"  he  said, 
"  to  come  here  alone  and  express  to  you  our  common  sentiments." 

He  conjured  the  Assembly  to  pursue,  as  criminals  guilty  of  trea- 
son against  the  nation,  the  authors  of  the  excesses  of  June  20 ;  to 
put  down  the  usurping  and  tyrannical  sect  of  the  Jacobins,  and 
to  take  efficient  measures  to  secure  due  respect  for  the  authority 
of  the  king  and  the  Assembly. 

La  Fayette  was  well  received  by  the  Assembly,  and  in  spite  of 
Girondin  opposition,  his  petition  was  submitted  to  a  committee. 
The  vacillating  mass  of  the  Centre  had  yielded  to  the  old  ascend- 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  261 

ency  of  the  general  of  '89.  He  went  from  the  Assembly  to  the 
palace ;  the  king  and  queen  thanked  him,  but  did  not  take  him  into 
their  confidence,  or  form  with  him  any  concerted  plan  of  action. 
When  he  had  left,  Madame  Elisabeth,  the  king's  sister,  said,  "  We 
ought  to  throw  ourselves  into  the  arms  of  this  man,  who  alone  can 
save  the  king  and  his  family." 

"  No,"  replied  the  queen,  "  we  had  better  perish  than  be  saved  by 
La  Fayette  and  the  Constitutionalists  ! " 

That  evening  Brissot,  Guadet,  and  many  of  their  friends  went  to 
the  Jacobin  club  and  accused  La  Fayette  of  high  treason.  "  Those 
who  conspire  against  liberty,"  said  Guadet,  "  are  strong  only  through 
our  divisions."  Eobespierre  applauded  the  words  of  Brissot  and 
Guadet,  and  proposed  a  petition  for  bringing  La  Fayette  to  triaL 

La  Fayette  summoned  the  national  guard,  to  march  under  his 
direction,  and  close  the  Jacobin  club.  No  response  whatever  was 
made  to  the  appeal,  and  La  Fayette  sorrowfully  left  to  rejoin  his 
army. 

The  Jacobins  burned  him  in  effigy. 

Military  events  redoubled  the  public  excitement.  During  the 
first  two  weeks  of  June,  Marshal  Luckner,  in  concert  with  La 
Fayette,  had  made  a  second  attempt  to  invade  Belgium.  The 
enterprise  had  begun  well;  Menin,  Ypres,  and  Courtrai  had  been 
occupied,  Audenarde  had  been  threatened,  and  a  small  body  of 
Belgian  and  Liegeois  patriots  had  joined  the  French. 

Luckner,  meantime,  not  seeing  a  general  uprising  in  Belgium, 
had  not  believed  himself  strong  enough  to  march  upon  Ghent.  He 
halted,  and  a  few  days  after,  recrossed  the  frontier.  A  general 
officer,  to  cover  his  retreat,  burned  the  suburbs  of  Courtrai,  a 
friendly  town  which  had  very  kindly  received  the  soldiers. 

This  retreat,  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  ordered  by  the 
king,  and  this  conflagration,  simultaneous  with  tidings  of  the  march 
of  the  Prussian  and  Austrian  armies  from  the  interior  of  Germany 
toward  the  Rhine,  excited  outcries  of  rage  in  Paris  and  throughout 
France.  A  public  clamor  arose  that  France,  betrayed  by  its  govern- 
ment, must  save  itself.  Volunteers  began  to  move  from  all  direc- 


262  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

tions;  a  few  thousands  came  to  Paris,  a  far  larger  number  went 
directly  to  the  frontier.  All  the  great  military  names  which  for  the 
next  twenty  years  were  to  re-echo  through  the  world,  all  the  great 
generals  of  the  Eepublic  and  the  Empire,  were  among  this  host, 
ignored  as  yet,  —  officers,  subaltern  officers,  soldiers  of  the  line,  and 
volunteers. 

Now  for  the  first  time  was  heard  the  song  that  was  to  cheer 
onward  the  new  army  to  battle.  Michelet,  the  illustrious  historian 
who  has  drawn  so  magnificent  a  picture  of  the  Federation  of  1790, 
has  also  grandly  recounted  the  story  of  the  birth  of  this  song  of  the 
Revolution. 

We  should  read  his  description  of  that  evening,  forever  memo- 
rable, at  the  house  of  Dietrich,  the  mayor  of  Strasburg,  a  friend 
of  La  Fayette's.  Volunteers,  officers  of  the  line,  and  ladies  of  Stras- 
burg, were  paying  their  adieux. 

"  Let  us  go ! "  exclaimed  suddenly  a  young  officer  of  engineers, 
who  left  the  room,  and  after  an  hour's  absence,  returned,  singing :  — 

"  Aliens,  enfants  de  la  patrie, 
Le  jour  du  gloire  est  arrive  ! "  * 

All  present  were  thrilled,  enraptured,  and  with  a  common  burst 
of  enthusiasm,  repeated  the  refrain  Eouget  de  1'Isle  had  sung. 

Thus  was  composed  that  immortal  song  whose  ever-growing  in- 
spiration no  reverse  can  smother,  and  whose  character  forever  sacred 
to  France  and  to  the  world,  no  profanation  can  change. 

This  song,  born  in  Alsace,  flew,  echo  upon  echo,  from  the  Rhine  to 
the  Mediterranean.  Just  then  there  was  being  formed  at  Mar- 
seilles, in  response  to  a  call  for  twenty  thousand  federates,  a 
battalion  composed  of  the  most  ardent  patriots  of  the  South.  They 
departed,  five  hundred  strong,  singing  on  their  way  through  France, 
the  song  composed  by  Rouget  de  1'Isle,  and  from  them  it  was 
named  the  Marseillaise. 

The  Girondins  very  soon  regained  in  the  Assembly  the  ascend- 
ency for  a  moment  shaken  by  La  Fayette.  June  30  the  minister 

*  "  Let  us  go,  children  of  the  country, 
The  day  of  glory  has  arrived  ! " 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  263 

of  the  interior  had  addressed  to  the  directors  of  the  departments  a 
request  for  the  dispersion  by  public  force  of  every  armed  body  which 
without  legal  authorization  was  marching  toward  Paris.  July  2 
the  Assembly  made  a  spirited  reply  to  the  minister,  declaring  that 
it  had  passed  a  special  decree  relative  to  the  passage  of  the  "  na- 
tional civil  guards,  whom  love  of  the  Constitution  and  of  liberty 
had  induced  to  repair  to  Paris,  to  be  from  thence  transferred  to  the 
reserve  army  at  Soissons."  The  Assembly  authorized  them  to  take 
part  in  the  anniversary  of  the  Federation  of  July  14 

The  king  dared  not  refuse  sanction  to  the  decree  which  annulled 
the  circular  of  his  ministers,  and  even  the  veto.  He  was  forced  to 
abandon  a  portion  of  the  ground  he  had  defended  on  June  20th,  and 
maintained  in  his  declaration  of  the  22d. 

The  Assembly,  the  same  day,  decreed  the  disbandment  of  the 
staff  of  the  national  guard  at  Paris,  and  in  cities  numbering  at  least 
fifty  thousand  souls;  this  was  to  strike  La  Fayette  in  the  staffs 
formed  through  his  influence. 

June  30  a  debate  began  upon  the  report  of  a  commission  charged 
with  the  duty  of  examining  means  of  providing  for  the  safety  of 
the  commonwealth  and  of  public  liberty.  July  3  the  debate  was 
carried  to  a  great  height  by  Vergniaud.  His  discourse,  one  of  fiery 
and  denunciatory  eloquence,  may  be  summed  up  in  these  words: 
"  If  the  king  should  destroy  the  Constitution  through  the  Constitu- 
tion itself ;  if  in  stifling  its  spirit  while  observing  its  letter,  if  in  not 
doing  or  preventing  others  from  doing  the  work  necessary  for  the 
triumph  of  its  principles,  he  should  deliver  the  country  to  an  inva- 
sion carried  on  in  his  name,  and  under  pretext  of  avenging  his  royal 
dignity,  —  if  through  all  this  he  were  to  invoke  a  counter-revolu- 
tion, he  would  no  longer  have  any  claim  upon  the  Constitution  he 
had  violated,  upon  the  people  he  had  betrayed." 

Vergniaud  ended  by  saying  that  he  did  not  believe  these  hor- 
rible suppositions  would  be  realized,  but  that  he  was  certain  the 
false  friends  who  environed  the  king  were  sold  to  the  conspirators 
at  Coblentz ;  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Assembly  to  declare  the 
country  in  danger,  and  to  address  to  the  king  a  message  energetic 


264  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

and  dignified  without  being  offensive,  inviting  him  to  unite  unre- 
servedly with  the  Assembly,  and  to  take  the  measures  requisite  for 
the  safety  of  the  state.  Finally  he  demanded  a  prompt  report  upon 
the  conduct  of  General  La  Fayette. 

Through  his  conclusion,  Vergniaud  had  softened  the  terrible 
effect  of  his  discourse.  Cambon  revived  the  effect  by  these  crush- 
ing words :  "  We  owe  truth  to  the  people !  All  the  suppositions  of 
M.  Vergniaud  are  verities ! " 

The  Assembly  ordered  the  sending  of  Vergniaud's  discourse  to 
all  the  departments  (July  4). 

The  constitutional  bishop  of  Bourges  frankly  proposed  to  the  As- 
sembly to  suspend  the  Constitution  in  the  event  of  extreme  peril, 
and  take  upon  itself  the  dictatorship.  The  Assembly  recoiled  from 
so  violent  a  resolution,  and  passed  to  the  order  of  the  day  (July  5). 

The  king,  making  an  effort  at  reconciliation,  announced  to  the 
Assembly  that  he  wished  to  renew  with  it,  on  the  14th  of  July 
upon  the  altar  of  the  country,  the  oath  to  live  free  or  to  die,  by  as- 
sociating himself  with  the  federates  from  the  departments.  He  also 
sent  another  message  announcing  the  march  of  Prussian  troops  to 
the  French  frontier,  and  impending  hostilities  with  Prussia,  whose 
ambassador  had  gone  without  taking  leave. 

These  acts  of  the  king  produced  a  good  impression. 

July  7  Lamourette,  the  constitutional  bishop  of  Lyons,  asked 
leave  to  make  a  motion  for  the  public  welfare.  He  said  that  the 
true  source  of  the  evils  of  France  was  the  division  of  the  National 
Assembly ;  that  one  portion  of  the  Assembly  attributed  to  the  other 
the  design  of  destroying  royalty ;  that  the  other  portion  accused  his 
colleagues  of  desiring  an  aristocratic  government  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a  House  of  Lords.  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  let  us  swear  to 
have  but  one  mind,  but  one  sentiment,  and  by  an  irrevocable  oath 
let  us  abjure,  let  us  strike  down  alike  the  Republic  and  the  system 
of  the  two  Chambers  ! " 

The  entire  Assembly,  the  tribunes  themselves,  usually  so  Jacobin 
in  sentiment,  rose  with  a  unanimous  burst  of  applause,  and  cried,  — 
"  Yes,  yes,  we  want  only  the  Constitution ! " 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  265 

Cries  of  "  Union  !  Union  ! "  resounded  from  all  sides. 

The  Left,  leaving  its  benches,  rushed  to  join  the  Eight,  and  was 
received  with  open  arms. 

All  were  sincere  in  thus  yielding  to  the  impulse  of  the  excit- 
able, cordial  French  nature.  The  Right,  the  Feuillants,  were  by  no 
means  counter-revolutionists;  and  the  Left,  the  Girondins,  what- 
ever might  be  their  republican  aspirations,  had  taken  no  revolu- 
tionary measures. 

The  Assembly  sent  a  deputation  to  inform  the  king  of  the  resolu- 
tion it  had  taken,  and  Louis  XVI.  went  to  declare  to  the  national 
representatives  that  the  nation  and  the  king  were  one.  "  Their 
reunion,"  said  he,  "will  save  France.  The  Constitution  must  be 
the  rallying-point  of  all  Frenchmen.  The  king  will  always  set 
them  the  example  of  defending  it." 

"  Long  live  the  nation !     Long  live  the  king ! "  was  the  cry. 

There  was  intense  emotion,  but  it  was  soon  over ;  it  did  not  en- 
dure even  to  the  next  day.  Before  the  close  of  the  session,  a  depu- 
tation from  the  municipality  of  Paris  came  to  announce  that  the 
directory  of  the  department  had  suspended  from  their  functions 
Petion,  the  mayor,  and  Manuel,  the  solicitor  of  the  commune,  for 
their  conduct  on  the  20th  of  June.  The  members  of  the  municipal 
body  energetically  protested  in  favor  of  the  mayor,  who  was  pun- 
ished, they  declared,  for  having  prevented  bloodshed  among  the 
populace. 

This  aggressive  measure  taken  by  the  directory  renewed  the  dis- 
cord for  a  moment  appeased.  The  king  thought  he  acted  wisely  in 
imploring  the  Assembly  to  decide  in  this  matter.  According  to  the 
Constitution,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  executive  power  to  confirm  or 
annul  the^  decrees  of  the  directory ;  the  Assembly  could  decide 
only  as  a  last  resort,  and  after  the  king.  The  king's  proposition 
was  set  aside  as  unconstitutional 

Next  day,  the  Assembly  was  agitated  by  tidings  that  a  counter- 
revolutionary leader  assuming  the  title  of  lieutenant-general  of  the 
army  of  the  princes,  had  entered  the  field  at  Ardeche  with  two 
or  three  thousand  armed  men ;  other  uprisings  were  expected. 


266  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

That  evening,  at  the  Jacobins',  they  cried  that  the  general  em- 
brace of  yesterday  had  been  "  a  Judas  lass." 

Petitions  in  favor  of  Petion  came  one  after  another ;  one  of  them 
was  from  forty  thousand  workingmen.  A  proposition  to  suspend 
the  directory  was  submitted  by  the  National  Assembly  to  the  exam- 
ination of  the  twelve  commissioners.  Discussion  upon  the  public 
perils  was  resumed.  Brissot  said  that,  in  view  of  the  vast  prepara- 
tions of  foreign  powers  to  invade  France,  the  time  had  come  for 
declaring  the  country  in  danger;  and  while  calling  to  mind  the 
reunion  decreed  two  days  before,  he  repeated,  under  a  less  impas- 
sioned form,  the  great  discourse  of  Vergniaud  on  the  3d  of  July, 
against  the  conspiracy  of  which  the  court  at  the  Tuileries  was  the 
central  point. 

"  The  country  is  in  danger,"  said  he,  "  not  at  all  because  we  fail 
in  strength,  but  because  our  strength  is  paralyzed.  The  cause  of 
this  lies  in  a  single  man  whom  the  nation  has  made  its  chief,  and 
whom  perfidious  courtiers  have  made  its  enemy."  He  demanded, 
even  for  the  king's  own  sake,  an  examination  of  his  conduct,  and 
of  that  article  of  the  Constitution  which  declares  that  in  case  the 
king  does  not  formally  oppose  enterprises  attempted  in  his  name 
against  the  Constitution,  he  shall  be  judged  to  have  abdicated. 

He  concluded  by  advising  the  formation  of  a  committee  of  pub- 
lic safety,  instructed  to  examine  accusations  of  treason;  then  he 
demanded  a  declaration  that  the  country  was  in  danger,  that  the 
ministry  had  lost  the  confidence  of  the  Assembly,  that  those  should 
be  punished  who  controlled  deliberations  at  the  head  of  armies,  — 
he  referred  to  La  Fayette,  from  whose  army  had  been  drawn  up  the 
addresses  against  the  20th  of  June. 

At  the  following  session,  the  ministers,  without  waiting  for  Bris- 
sot's  proposition  to  be  acted  upon,  announced  their  resignation  to 
the  Assembly.  It  was  received  with  profound  indifference. 

The  king  chose  a  new  ministry  of  no  more  character  or  influence 
than  that  which  had  just  resigned. 

July  11,  the  Assembly  passed  unanimously  the  following  decla- 
ration :  — 


1792.]  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  267 

"  Numerous  soldiers  are  advancing  toward  our  frontiers ;  all  the 
enemies  of  liberty  are  arming  against  our  Constitution.  Citizens, 
the  country  is  in  danger  !  " 

Two  eloquent  addresses  —  the  one  to  Frenchmen  and  proposed 
by  Yergniaud,  the  other  to  the  French  army  and  proposed  by  the 
Feuillant  Vaublanc  —  were  voted  with  like  unanimity. 

In  all  pertaining  to  the  defence  of  the  country  the  Feuillants 
sincerely  united  with  the  Girondins;  unfortunately,  they  at  the 
same  time  persisted  in  their  reaction  against  the  municipality  of 
Paris.  Intelligence  that  decrees  of  arrest  had  been  issued  against 
Petion  and  Manuel  greatly  irritated  the  Left ;  but  the  Left  did  not 
sanction  a  violent  address  from  the  Marseilles  commune,  formally 
demanding  the  abolition  of  royalty.  This  address  was  declared 
unconstitutional  (July  12). 

The  same  day  the  Assembly  received  a  letter  from  the  king 
announcing  his  confirmation  of  the  decree  suspending  Petion  and 
Manuel  The  Assembly  the  next  day  annulled  the  suspension  of 
the  mayor,  and  a  few  days  after,  that  of  the  solicitor  of  the  com- 
mune. 

The  principal  members  of  the  directory  of  the  department  of  the 
Seine  sent  in  their  resignations.  The  municipality  triumphed. 

The  federates  had  begun  to  arrive.  The  Jacobins  voted  them 
an  address  drawn  up  by  Robespierre.  It  declared  that  their  mis- 
sion was  to  save  the  state,  and  that  the  true  Constitution  was  the 
sovereignty  of  the  nation.  Robespierre  here  spoke  a  boldly  revo- 
lutionary language,  such  as  was  not  usual  to  him :  "  Upon  the  Altar 
of  the  Country,  upon  the  field  of  the  Federation,  let  us  take  an 
oath  only  to  the  country  and  to  ourselves,  in  the  presence  of  the 
immortal  King  of  Nature,  who  made  us  for  liberty,  and  who  pun- 
ishes oppressors."  Robespierre  in  the  name  of  the  Jacobins  now 
repudiated  the  oath  to  the  king.  He  rose  to  great  eloquence  when- 
ever he  dealt  with  religious  ideas. 

Danton  mitigated  Robespierre's  proposition  by  saying  that  the 
federates  ought  to  take  on  the  14th  of  July,  with  the  Assembly  and 
the  national  guard,  the  oath  ordained  by  the  law,  but  that  they 


268  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

should  add  to  it  an  oath  not  to  separate  until  the  people  of  the 
eighty-three  departments  had  been  called  to  pronounce  upon  a  peti- 
tion concerning  the  destiny  of  the  executive  power  (July  13). 

The  fete  of  July  14,  the  anniversary  of  the  taking  of  the  Bastille 
and  of  the  great  Federation,  passed  in  an  orderly  manner.  In  the 
morning  a  deputation  from  the  Assembly  went  to  lay  the  first 
stone  of  a  column  of  liberty  upon  the  site  of  the  Bastille.  This 
column  was  not  erected  until  forty  years  after,  and  then  as  a  result 
of  the  July  revolution. 

The  Assembly,  the  king,  the  municipality,  the  national  guard, 
and  three  or  four  thousand  federates  afterward  gathered  at  the 
Champs  de  Mars,  where  an  immense  throng  of  people  surged  up 
and  down.  The  king,  melancholy  and  speechless,  was  received  in 
silence,  the  mayor  with  endless  acclamations. 

Near  the  Altar  of  the  Country  there  had  been  erected  a  large 
tomb  for  those  who  had  died  on  the  frontier ;  it  bore  this  inscrip- 
tion :  "  Tremble,  tyrants ;  we  will  avenge  you  ! "  Farther  on,  a  large 
tree  had  been  planted :  from  its  branches  hung  bucklers,  helmets, 
and  escutcheons ;  under  the  shadow  of  the  tree  was  a  funeral-pile 
loaded  with  crowns  and  tiaras,  the  insignia  of  individuals  and  of 
corporations.  The  king  was  invited  to  set  fire  to  the  tree  of  feu- 
dality ;  he  excused  himself,  saying  that  feudality  no  longer  existed. 

July  16,  upon  Carnot's  motion  in  the  name  of  the  committees, 
the  Assembly  voted  to  increase  the  army  to  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men,  including  volunteers.  The  national  guards  were  to 
assemble  in  all  the  cantons  in  order  to  designate  those  among  them 
who  should  be  first  to  march. 

A  deputation  of  federates  at  this  same  session  read  an  address 
of  extreme  violence,  in  which  they  demanded  the  temporary  sus- 
pension of  the  king  and  the  accusation  of  La  Fayette.  It  was  said 
that  this  address  had  also  been  drawn  up  by  Robespierre. 

Alarming  letters  from  Marshal  Luckner  and  General  Dumouriez 
increased  the  agitation  of  the  Assembly.  The  two  armies  of  the 
Rhine  and  the  Centre  had  recently  been  united  and  placed  under 
Luckner's  command.  He  wrote  that  France  was  about  to  be  in- 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  269 

vaded  by  two  hundred  thousand  of  the  enemy,  not  counting  twenty 
thousand  emigrants,  and  that  he  had  only  seventy  thousand  men 
to  oppose  them.  Dumouriez,  who  had  a  command  under  La  Fay- 
ette  in  the  third  army,  that  of  Flanders,  reported  that  the  Austrians 
had  in  their  turn  entered  the  French  frontier,  and  that  they  occu- 
pied Orchies  and  Bavai  in  force. 

The  time  had  come  to  keep  the  oath  they  had  sworn  so  often,  to 
live  freemen,  or  to  die ! 

On  Sunday,  July  22,  at  six  in  the  morning,  the  alarm-gun  was 
heard  on  the  Pont-Neuf.  A  double  cortege  set  out  from  the  Hotel 
de  Ville.  In  each  of  the  two  processions  inarched  twelve  members 
of  the  municipal  corps  escorted  by  national  guards.  Upon  every 
square  and  every  bridge  the  roll  of  the  drum  commanded  silence, 
and  a  municipal  officer  read  to  the  people  the  decree  of  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  declaring  the  country  in  danger. 

Spaces  had  been  cleared  in  the  squares  and  surrounded  by  armed 
citizens ;  here  tents  decked  with  flags  were  pitched,  where  the  muni- 
cipal officers  and  leading  citizens  took  the  names  of  the  citizens 
who  wished  to  enlist,  a  plank  resting  on  the  drums  serving  as  a 
desk. 

Volunteers  presented  themselves  in  throngs;  the  barrier  of  na- 
tional guards  could  scarce  restrain  them.  Each  wished  to  be  first 
enrolled.  Married  men,  only  sons,  and  students  swelled  the  pa- 
triotic host;  old  men  and  children  went  away  in  tears  on  being 
refused.  Each  of  the  officers,  when  he  returned  in  the  evening  to 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  was  followed  by  a  long  file  of  enlisted  men, 
hand  in  hand,  singing.  Many  left  the  next  day  for  the  frontier, 
with  knapsacks  on  their  backs  and  without  uniforms,  followed  by 
mothers  anxious  to  take  a  last  look  of  the  children  whom  they 
never  hoped  to  see  again. 

This  was  that  famous  day  of  voluntary  enrolment  which  in 
French  annals  will  always  be  cited  with  that  of  the  great  Federa- 
tion. 

This  day  of  enrolment  was  repeated  in  all  the  towns.  France 
thus  responded  to  the  Assembly's  demand  for  an  army  of  four  hun- 


270  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

dred  and  fifty  thousand  men.  Paris  furnished  fifteen  thousand; 
the  departments  of  Alsace,  Lorraine,  and  Franche-Comte  contrib- 
uted a  vast  number. 

July  24,  upon  Vergniaud's  motion,  the  Assembly  decreed  that 
the  volunteers  should  be  formed  into  companies  by  communes  or 
groups  from  neighboring  communes,  and  that  they  should  elect 
their  officers  under  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  This  gathering 
under  the  same  flag  of  men  who  could  answer  for  each  other  was 
productive  of  excellent  results;  the  success  of  the  election  of  the 
leaders  by  the  soldiers  can  be  estimated  by  the  long  list  of  generals 
and  marshals  of  France  that  were  the  outgrowth  of  the  elections 
of  1792. 

Another  decree  proposed  by  Vergniaud  forbade  every  commander 
of  a  fortified  place,  under  penalty  of  death,  to  surrender  his  post 
until  it  had  been  breached  and  assaulted,  and  declared  the  inhabi- 
tants and  municipalities  of  seats  of  war  traitors  to  the  country  if 
they  obliged  a  commander  to  capitulate  (July  25). 

While  thus  taking  the  most  energetic  measures  to  defend  the 
country  against  the  enemy  from  without,  the  Girondists  made  a 
final  effort  to  prevent  the  terrible  crisis  impending  at  home. 

In  1791  the  predecessors  of  the  Gironde,  Brissot,  Condorcet, 
and  the  Eolands,  more  far-sighted  than  Eobespierre,  had  desired 
a  republic  when  he  opposed  it,  and  when  it  could  have  been 
established  without  bloody  catastrophes ;  now,  foreseeing  civil  war, 
sanguinary  executions,  and  the  trial  and  death  of  the  king,  they 
sought  to  delay  the  Eepublic  while  Eobespierre  was  endeavoring  to 
hasten  it. 

La  Fayette  having  declined  acting  in  concert  with  them,  the 
Girondists  endeavored  to  effect  without  his  aid  that  which  they 
would  have  preferred  to  do  in  unison  with  him.  Gensonne*,  Gua- 
det,  and  Vergniaud  sent  the  king  a  letter  stating  that  public  distrust 
of  the  monarch  was  the  main  cause  of  the  impending  crisis.  Declar- 
ing themselves  unchangeably  attached  to  the  interests  of  the  nation, 
which  they  had  never  separated  from  those  of  the  king,  they  advised 
measures  which  might  yet  win  back  for  him  the  good  opinion  of 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  271 

his  people :  these  were  a  solemn  declaration  that  he  would  accept 
no  augmentation  of  power  coming  to  him  from  foreign  rulers ;  the 
selection  of  his  ministers  from  men  most  in  favor  of  the  Revolu- 
tion ;  the  submission  of  the  civil  list  to  a  verification  which  would 
convince  the  people  that  it  was  not  employed  to  pay  the  enemies 
of  liberty  and  of  the  Constitution;  the  transfer  of  his  son's  edu- 
cation to  a  governor  enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  nation;  and 
finally  the  removal  of  La  Fayette  from  military  command. 

This  was  a  formal  compact  proposed  to  Louis  XVI.,  its  condi- 
tions being  the  recall  of  Roland,  Claviere,  and  Servan  to  the  minis- 
try, and  the  placing  of  the  little  prince  royal  under  the  direction  of 
Condorcet. 

The  king  made  an  unfavorable  response,  but  negotiations  were 
not  broken  off,  and  for  several  days  the  Girondists  allayed  the 
excitement  in  the  Assembly.  On  the  24th  of  July,  a  representa- 
tive having  moved  a  consideration  of  the  question  of  the  king's 
dethronement  demanded  by  many  petitioners,  Vergniaud  obtained 
postponement  of  this  great  debate. 

July  26,  Brissot  with  his  habitual  enthusiasm  went  very  far  in 
the  path  of  moderation.  After  declaiming  against  the  faction  which 
desired  the  restoration  of  the  nobility  and  the  two  chambers,  he 
added,  that  if  there  existed  a  third  faction  of  regicides  who  aspired 
to  the  creation  of  a  dictator,  and  who  were  plotting  the  immediate 
establishment  of  a  republic  on  the  ruins  of  the  Constitution,  the 
sword  of  the  law  should  strike  them  as  well  as  the  others.  "  The 
execution  of  kings,"  said  he,  "  is  the  best  means  of  making  royalty 
eternal ;  it  is  not  through  the  murder  of  an  individual  we  shall 
abolish  it  The  resurrection  of  royalty  in  England  was  due  to  the 
beheading  of  Charles  I." 

He  alluded  to  the  journals  and  the  pamphlets  of  Marat,  Hebert, 
and  various  young  men,  Freron,  Tallien,  and  others,  who  sought 
notoriety  through  sensational  writings. 

While  the  counter-revolutionary  journals  were  openly  preach- 
ing high  treason,  and  celebrating  in  advance  the  triumph  of 
hostile  arms,  other  libellous  sheets  not  less  odious  were  calling 


272  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

for  the  destruction  of  the  king,  and  hurling  ignoble  insults  at  the 
queen. 

Guadet  proposed  an  address  to  the  king,  a  sort  of  summons,  once 
more  to  demand  his  co-operation  in  saving  the  country  and  his 
crown.  Brissot  sustained  Guadet,  and  promised  not  to  hasten  the 
debate  upon  the  question  of  the  king's  dethronement  which  the 
special  committee  of  twelve  would  deliberately  examine.  Almost 
the  entire  Assembly  applauded  Brissot ;  but  the  tribunes  clamored 
against  him,  and  called  him  "  Barnave's  traitor."  The  policy  of 
Brissot  and  the  Girondists  was  violently  denounced  that  evening  at 
the  Jacobin  Club. 

The  ultra-Jacobins  refused  to  see,  in  the  efforts  of  Brissot  and 
the  Girondists  to  recover  power,  anything  else  than  the  ambition 
of  men  who  aspired  to  the  ministry  for  themselves  or  their  friends ; 
and  in  their  desire  to  prevent  the  use  of  force,  they  perceived  only 
connivance  with  the  court. 

Meantime  the  king  and  queen  had  secretly  summoned  Guadet  to 
the  Tuileries;  his  words  seemed  to  make  an  impression  upon  the 
royal  pair.  This  impression  was  transitory.  Two  days  after,  a 
faithful  servant  of  the  king  who  had  been  the  medium  of  these 
secret  communications  came  in  tears  to  the  authors  of  the  letter 
to  Louis  XVI.  to  tell  them  that  the  negotiations  were  broken  off. 
Vergniaud  replied  in  a  grave,  sorrowful  voice  :  "  It  is  no  longer  in 
our  power  to  save  your  master." 

The  Violent  overthrow  of  royalty  was  henceforth  inevitable. 

The  same  day,  July  20,  the  manifesto  of  foreign  powers  against 
the  Revolution  arrived  in  Paris. 

Austria  and  Prussia,  having  united,  were  at  last  ready  to  enter  the 
field,  and  were  preparing  for  their  principal  attack  by  the  way  of 
the  valley  of  the  Meuse  with  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
men,  who  would  be  supported  by  other  troops.  The  emigrants, 
to  whom  the  powers  wished  to  allow  only  a  subordinate  role, 
numbered  eighteen  thousand,  who  were  distributed  among  the  dif- 
ferent corps. 

The  king  of  Hungary  had  been  elected  emperor  of  Germany  and 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  273 

crowned  at  Frankfort,  July  14,  under  the  name  of  Francis  IL  The 
king  of  Prussia  had  afterwards  joined  him  at  Mayence,  where  the 
German  princes  made  merry  as  if  they  had  already  returned  flushed 
with  victory. 

Mallet-Dupon,  the  agent  sent  by  Louis  XVI.,  had  presented  to 
the  new  emperor  and  the  king  of  Prussia  the  draft  of  a  manifesto 
to  be  published  upon  their  entrance  into  France.  According  to  this 
plan,  the  powers  were  not  to  lay  down  their  arms  until  the  king 
was  restored  to  liberty  and  his  authority  re-established;  but  it 
did  not  add  that  they  were  arming  against  the  insurgents  and  not 
against  the  nation;  nothing  was  said  of  the  Constitution. 

The  queen  did  not  think  this  sufficient.  She  had  written  to 
Count  de  Merci  that  the  manifesto  must  hold  the  National  Assem- 
bly and  Paris  responsible  for  the  lives  of  the  king  and  the  royal 
family.  Merci  had  replied  that  there  would  be  "  a  menacing  dec- 
laration" (4th  to  9th  of  July). 

The  emigrant  princes  who  had  refused  audience  to  the  envoy  of 
the  king,  their  brother,  with  the  aid  of  the  Russian  ambassador, 
caused  the  rejection  of  the  document  drawn  up  after  the  instruc- 
tions of  Louis  XVI.,  and  induced  the  emperor  and  the  king  of 
Prussia  to  adopt  another  manifesto,  the  work  of  an  emigrant,  the 
Marquis  de  Limon,  and  which  was  inspired  by  the  former  minister, 
Calonne. 

The  manifesto  announced  that  his  Imperial  Majesty,  and  his 
Serene  Majesty  the  king  of  Prussia,  had  taken  up  arms  to  defend 
Germany  and  to  put  an  end  to  anarchy  in  France,  to  arrest  the 
attacks  aimed  at  the  throne  and  the  altar,  and  to  restore  to  the 
king  his  liberty  and  his  authority.  The  allied  courts  proposed  no 
other  end  than  the  happiness  of  France,  and  had  no  desire  to  enrich 
themselves  through  conquest.  Their  combined  armies  would  protect 
the  persons  and  the  property  of  all  those  who  submitted  to  the  king. 
The  national  guards  were  called  upon  to  watch  over  the  tranquillity 
of  town  and  country  until  the  arrival  of  the  troops  of  their  impe- 
rial and  royal  majesties.  Those  of  the  national  guards  who  should 
resist  the  forces  of  the  two  allied  courts  would  be  punished  as 
18 


274  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

rebels  to  their  king  and  disturbers  of  the  public  tranquillity.  The 
generals,  officers,  and  soldiers  of  the  French  regular  army  were  in 
like  manner  called  upon  to  submit  immediately  to  their  king.  The 
inhabitants  of  towns,  burghs,  and  villages  who  should  dare  oppose 
the  forces  of  their  majesties  would  be  punished  immediately  with 
the  utmost  rigor  of  military  law,  and  their  houses  would  be  demol- 
ished or  burned.  The  city  of  Paris  and  all  its  inhabitants,  without 
distinction,  should  be  called  upon,  to  submit  at  once  to  the  king. 
Their  imperial  and  royal  majesties  would  hold  the  members  of  the 
National  Assembly,  the  municipality,  and  the  national  guard  of 
Paris  personally  responsible  for  whatever  might  occur,  declaring 
that  if  the  palace  of  the  Tuileries  was  forced  or  insulted,  if  the 
least  outrage  was  done  the  king,  the  queen,  and  the  royal  family, 
and  if  immediate  provision  was  not  made  for  their  safety,  they 
would  inflict  an  exemplary  vengeance  upon  them  by  giving  up 
the  city  of  Paris  to  the  ravages  of  the  soldiery,  and  punish  the 
rebellious  citizens  as  they  deserved. 

This  document  appeared  July  25  at  Coblentz,  with  the  signature 
of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick-Lunebourg,  commander  of  the  combined 
armies  of  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  Prussia. 

This  prince,  the  most  distinguished  of  the  former  lieutenants  of 
the  great  Frederick,  was  veiy  unfriendly  to  the  emigrants,  and  was 
considered  so  far  from  inimical  to  the  Revolution,  that  Narbonne, 
when  minister,  had  sought  to  gain  him  over  by  proposing  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  chief  command  of  the  French  armies.  There  were 
even  those  who  cherished  the  absurd  idea  of  choosing  him  for  con- 
stitutional king  if  Louis  XVI.  was  dethroned. 

The  Duke  of  Brunswick  foresaw  the  consequences  of  the  insane 
proclamation  which  had  been  thrust  upon  him,  but  had  not  the 
courage  to  refuse  his  signature. 

The  fanatical  and  narrow  new  emperor,  and  the  feather-headed 
and  imaginative  king  of  Prussia,  expected  to  inspire  great  terror 
by  the  manifesto  that  had  been  dictated  to  them  by  an  intriguer 
and  an  assembly  of  fools,  —  Calonne  and  the  emigrants. 

The  only  moderate  and   sensible  phrase  in  the  manifesto,  the 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  275 

declaration  that  the  powers  did  not  aim  to  make  conquests,  came 
neither  from  the  emperor  nor  from  the  king  of  Prussia;  it  was 
Catherine  II.  who  had  demanded  it,  while  at  the  same  time  she  was 
urging  the  German  powers  to  thoroughly  compromise  themselves 
with  the  French  Revolution.  The  czarina  wished  indeed  to  divide 
Poland  with  Prussia  and  Austria,  but  not  to  allow  them  to  become 
further  aggrandized  at  the  expense  of  France. 

Paris  received  the  menace  of  the  kings  with  disdainful  laughter. 
She  had  replied  in  advance.  At  the  very  moment  when  the  im- 
perial and  royal  manifesto  arrived  from  Coblentz,  all  the  sections  of 
Paris  save  one  —  forty-seven  out  of  forty-eight  —  voted  a  petition 
for  the  deposal  of  the  king  (July  28). 

The  real  power  in  Paris  had  devolved  on  the  sections,  those 
assemblages  of  the  districts  ruled  by  the  most  fervent  zealots.  The 
municipality  had  authorized  them  to  form  a  central  bureau  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  (July  17),  and  the  National  Assembly  had  given 
them  its  sanction  by  decreeing  their  permanence  throughout  France, 
in  consequence  of  the  proclamation  of  July  25  declaring  the  coun- 
try in  danger.  The  influence  of  Danton  made  itself  felt  more  and 
more  in  the  movements  of  the  sections.  He  had  just  caused  the 
section  of  the  Theatre  Franqais  (the  Cordeliers  and  the  School  of 
Medicine)  to  invite  passive  citizens,  who  were  not  electors,  to  join 
in  its  deliberations. 

This  example  was  destined  to  be  followed ;  it  was  an  appeal  to 
the  entire  people  to  defend  the  Revolution  and  France. 

A  most  important  session  was  held  on  the  29th  at  the  Jacobin 
Club.  A  former  member  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  Antoine, 
mayor  of  Metz,  demanded  the  convocation  of  primary  meetings 
and  the  deposal  of  Louis  XVI.  and  his  family.  This  cut  short 
the  intrigues  of  all  who  dreamed  of  the  regency  for  Philip  of 
Orleans. 

Robespierre  summed  up  and  developed  Antoine's  idea;  but  he 
added  that  the  root  of  the  evil  lay  not  alone  in  the  executive  power, 
which  sought  to  destroy  the  state,  but  also  in  the  legislative  power, 
which  could  not  or  would  not  save  it.  "  The  state  must  be  saved, 


276  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

no  matter  in  what  way,"  he  said,  "  and  there  is  nothing  unconstitu- 
tional save  that  which  tends  to  its  destruction." 

He  declared  a  new  Assembly  necessary,  a  NATIONAL  CONVENTION 
which  should  be  instructed  to  revise  the  Constitution,  and  which 
should  be  elected  by  all  citizens,  and  not  alone  by  those  who  paid 
a  certain  impost.  He  pretended  that  the  only  true  friends  of  lib- 
erty were  in  the  class  at  that  time  excluded  from  the  elections. 
Eepeating  against  the  Legislative  the  same  manoeuvre  he  had  em- 
ployed against  the  Constituent  Assembly,  he  invited  the  present 
Assembly  to  follow  the  example  of  its  predecessor,  by  excluding 
its  members  from  the  future  Convention. 

He  omitted,  however,  to  say  that,  by  thus  mowing  down  the 
second  harvest  of  French  politicians  in  the  wake  of  the  first,  he 
hoped  that  in  the  end  no  head  would  be  left  standing  higher  than 
that  of  the  leader  of  the  Jacobins. 

His  language  had  ceased  to  be  vaguely  declamatory ;  he  was  upon 
this  occasion  clear  and  trenchant.  Eobespierre,  in  fact,  had  at  last 
drawn  the  sword  and  flung  away  the  scabbard. 

The  catastrophe  was  drawing  near.  Brunswick's  manifesto  had 
rendered  inevitable  a  new  and  more  decisive  20th  of  June.  The 
federates  and  the  leaders  of  the  faubourgs  had  been  on  the  point 
of  marching  upon  the  Tuileries  during  the  night  of  July  26,  but 
they  had  decided  to  await  the  Marseillais. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  march  of  the  Marseilles  battalion. 
This  battalion  had  been  formed  at  the  call  of  a  young  man  then  in 
Paris  upon  business  for  the  Marseilles  municipality.  This  young 
man  was  Barbaroux.  Handsome,  brave,  learned,  amiable,  intelligent, 
and  energetic,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  had  for  three  years  played 
the  first  role  in  his  city.  He  was  intimately  associated  in  Paris 
with  the  Rolands.  At  the  moment  of  greatest  peril,  when  there 
was  reason  to  fear  that  Paris  and  the  North  of  France  would  suc- 
cumb to  the  invasion  and  the  counter-revolution,  he  had  discussed 
with  the  Rolands  the  project,  in  case  of  defeat,  of  establishing  the 
republic  in  the  South,  where  it  might  be  defended  by  the  rampart 
of  the  Loire  and  the  mountains.  "  But,  before  all,"  writes  Barbaroux 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  277 

in  his  Memoirs,  "we  resolved  to  strive  to  save  the  North  and 
Paris."  Barbaroux  and  another  Marseillais,  Eebecqui,  wrote  to 
Marseilles  to  send  to  Paris  six  hundred  men  who  would  know  how 
to  die,  and  Marseilles  sent  them. 

The  Marseillais  arrived  at  Charenton  on  the  29th.  Barbaroux, 
with  a  few  effective  men,  went  to  meet  them,  and  it  was  decided 
that  the  next  day  the  faubourgs  in  arms  should  receive  the  Mar- 
seillais at  the  barrier ;  that  from  the  Faubourg  Saint- Antoine  they 
would  march  upon  the  Tuileries;  that  they  would  surround  the 
palace  without  entering  it  and  without  committing  any  violence, 
and  invite  the  National  Assembly  to  devise  measures  for  the  safety 
of  the  country:  this  was,  the  authors  of  the  plan  thought,  a  last 
chance  to  put  an  end  to  the  royal  power  without  bloodshed. 

Santerre  was  to  direct  the  movement  of  the  faubourgs;  he  had 
promised  forty  thousand  men :  he  came  with  two  hundred.  Accord- 
ing to  all  appearance  it  was  Eobespierre  who  had  diverted  Santerre 
—  a  personage  more  restless  than  intelligent  —  from  executing  a 
project  which  would  have  placed  the  Girondists  in  power. 

Eobespierre  had  summoned  the  two  Marseillaise  leaders,  and 
demonstrated  to  them  that  it  was  indispensable  for  the  safety  of 
the  Eevolution  that  some  highly  popular  man  should  be  declared 
chief,  and  give  it  a  new  impulse.  "  We  no  more  desire  a  dictator 
than  a  king,"  replied  the  Marseillais,  and  the  conference  was 
broken  off. 

What  Eobespierre  doubtless  wished  was,  that  the  federates  in 
unison  with  the  Jacobins  should  insure  him  the  dictatorship, 
during  the  interval  between  the  existing  Assembly  which  he  as- 
pired to  dissolve  and  the  Convention  he  was  to  summon.  Not 
having  succeeded  in  this  attempt,  he  held  himself  in  reserve,  and 
waited. 

Danton  and  Camille  Desmoulins  urged  immediate  action.  Marat, 
eager  for  massacre  but  not  for  combat,  planned  flight  in  the  disguise 
of  a  jockey.  Vergniaud  declared  that  they  must  conquer  or  per- 
ish in  Paris ;  nevertheless,  the  Girondist  leaders  of  the  Assembly, 
standing  aloof  from  insurrectionary  preparations,  adhered  to  the 


278  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

Constitution.  Brissot  and  Isnard  even  said  that  Robespierre  ought 
to  be  cited  before  the  high  tribunal  for  his  speech  of  July  29. 
Their  friends,  Petion  and  the  Rolands,  without  being  in  the  move- 
ment, judged  it  inevitable  and  necessary. 

Scenes  of  increasing  violence  succeeded  each  other  in  the  city 
and  the  Assembly.  A  first  conflict  took  place  on  the  evening  of 
the  arrival  of  the  Marseillais  (July  30).  They  were  attacked  in 
the  Champs-Elysees  by  a  body  of  national  royalist  guards.  The 
latter  were  routed  and  took  refuge  in  the  Tuileries. 

August  3  the  king  communicated  Brunswick's  manifesto  to  the 
Assembly,  protesting  at  the  same  time  his  fidelity  to  the  national 
honor  and  to  the  Constitution.  The  Assembly  refused  to  print  the 
king's  message,  as  was  demanded  by  the  Right. 

The  Assembly  had  already  replied  to  the  threats  of  the  manifesto, 
by  declaring  that  every  noble  or  foreign  leader  taken  with  arms  in 
his  hands  should  be  treated  in  the  same  manner  as  French  prison- 
ers of  the  national  guard  and  of  the  line.  The  Assembly  had  at 
the  same  time  offered  pensions  to  the  under-officers  and  soldiers 
of  hostile  armies  belonging  to  nations  not  free,  who  should  desert 
from  the  powers  at  war  with  France  (August  2). 

Immediately  after  the  king's  message,  Petion  presented  to  the 
Assembly  a  petition  from  the  sections  of  Paris  asking  for  the 
deposition  of  Louis  XVI.  The  sections  demanded  that  responsible 
ministers  chosen  by  the  Assembly  should  exercise  the  executive 
power  until  the  will  of  the  sovereign  people  could  be  legally  pro- 
nounced in  a  national  convention. 

The  petition  was  referred  to  the  special  Committee  of  Twelve, 
whose  number  had  been  increased  to  twenty-one. 

The  petition  of  the  forty-seven  sections  was  already  left  in  the 
background.  The  Mauconseil  section  had  decided  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  save  liberty  by  means  of  the  Constitution,  and  that  it 
would  no  longer  recognize  Louis  XVI.  as  king  of  France.  This 
section  had  resolved  to  go  en  masse  on  Sunday,  August  5,  to  sum- 
mon the  Legislative  Assembly  to  save  the  country,  and  had  invited 
the  other  sections  to  unite  with  it. 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  279 

Upon  Vergniaud's  motion,  the  Assembly  annulled  the  decree  of 
the  Mauconseil  section  (August  4). 

The  departmental  council  ordered  the  formal  publication  of  this 
decision ;  the  general  council  of  the  commune  refused  it. 

Petion  interposed  in  order  to  prevent  a  dangerous  conflict  be- 
tween the  Assembly  and  the  sections.  He  sent  commissioners  from 
the  commune  to  the  most  zealous  of  the  sections  of  the  Faubourg 
Saint- Antoine,  that  of  the  Quinze-Vingts,  to  dissuade  them  from 
repairing  on  August  5  to  the  rendezvous  of  the  Mauconseil  section. 
The  Quinze-Vingts  section  decided  to  wait  patiently  until  the  9th 
for  the  Assembly's  response  to  the  petition  of  the  sections.  "  If 
justice  is  not  done  the  people  by  the  Assembly,  and  its  manifesto 
declared  at  midnight,  the  alarm-bell  will  ring,  the  gtntrale  will  be 
beaten,  and  aU  Paris  will  be  in  insurrection." 

The  decision  of  the  Quinze-Vingts  was  accepted  by  the  other 
sections  most  involved  in  the  movement  and  by  an  insurrectionary 
committee  which  was  formed  at  the  Jacobins'  and  among  the  fed- 
erates. No  man  of  note  figured  on  this  committee. 

The  insurrection  being  thus  announced  at  the  appointed  hour,  the 
few  days  that  remained  were  employed  in  preparations  for  attack 
and  for  defence.  The  court  relied  upon  the  Swiss  regiment,  upon  a 
portion  of  the  national  guard,  upon  the  former  constitutional  guards 
of  the  king  whom  he  continued  to  pay,  and  upon  a  goodly  number 
of  ancient  nobles  who  remained  in  Paris  at  his  disposal.  It  had 
enrolled  a  few  bands  of  workingmen,  who,  like  the  others,  were  to 
take  the  red  cap  and  the  pike,  and  hurl  disorder  among  the  assail- 
ants. The  court  was  somewhat  reassured  by  petitions  adverse  to 
those  of  the  sections.  Several  of  these  very  sections  repudiated  the 
document  presented  by  Petion.  In  certain  sections  the  two  parties 
were  by  turns  in  the  majority,  the  opposite  factions  never  being 
assembled  at  the  same  time. 

Louis  XVI.,  meantime,  cherished  few  illusions.  Absorbed  in 
his  devotions,  he  was  resigned  to  ruin  and  to  death.  The  queen 
passed  alternately  from  exaltation  to  despair.  On  a  sleepless  night, 
as  she  gazed  at  the  moon  illuminating  the  Tuileries,  she  said  to  one 


280  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

of  her  ladies :  "  Before  another  new  moon  I  shall  be  freed  from  my 
chains !  All  our  friends  are  on  the  march  to  deliver  us.  I  have 
the  itinerary  of  the  king  of  Prussia :  on  such  a  day  he  will  be  at 
Verdun;  and  on  such  a  day,  close  at  hand.  The  Austrians  are 
about  to  besiege  Lisle ! " 

Then  she  would  relapse  into  painful  anxiety ;  but  she  none  the 
less  rejected  all  the  plans  formed  to  save  the  king  and  at  the  same 
time  to  uphold  the  Constitution.  La  Fayette  had  proposed  to  re- 
move the  king  from  Paris  and  carry  him  to  Compiegne  under  the 
protection  of  faithful  soldiers.  Liancourt,  a  friend  of  La  Fayette's, 
had  submitted  another  plan :  it  was  to  conduct  the  king  to  Eouen, 
where  La  Fayette's  party  held  sway.  Marie  Antoinette  rejected 
all  such  overtures.  "  Better  perish ! "  she  would  repeat,  thus  sac- 
rificing her  husband  and  children  to  her  implacable  rancor  against 
La  Fayette.  "  Better,"  she  said  on  another  occasion,  "  let  them  im- 
prison us  for  two  months  in  a  tower!" 

She  was  soon  to  be  imprisoned  in  a  tower,  to  which  she  would 
drag  her  family  with  her,  and  which  she  would  leave  only  for  the 
scaffold. 

The  former  minister,  Narbonne,  and  many  other  gentlemen  of 
the  Constitutional  party,  friends  of  La  Fayette,  had  asked  to  enroll 
themselves  with  the  defenders  of  the  king.  Admission  to  the  palace 
was  refused  them. 

All  the  preparations  were  made  in  broad  daylight.  The  session 
of  August  6  at  the  Jacobins'  ended  with  these  words  from  Merlin 
de  Thionville:  "No  more  addresses,  no  more  petitions!  Let  the 
French  rely  upon  their  arms  and  guns,  and  make  their  own  laws ! " 

August  8  the  special  Committee  of  Twenty-One,  by  a  majority 
of  one  vote,  proposed  the  indictment  of  La  Fayette  for  his  journey 
to  Paris  and  for  his  general  conduct.  A  new  grievance  had  in- 
creased the  popular  irritation  against  him.  Certain  words  dropped 
by  the  aged  Marshal  Luckner  had  led  to  a  belief  that  La  Fayette 
had  entertained  a  design  to  persuade  Luckner  to  march  with  him 
upon  Paris,  leaving  the  frontiers  open.  La  Fayette  and  his  friends 
indignantly  denied  this;  but  the  mob  would  not  listen,  and  the 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  281 

Girondists  were  determined  to  push  to  extremities  the  rupture  La 
Fayette  had  desired  "  I  have  seen  La  Fayette,"  said  Brissot,  one 
of  the  most  ardent  friends  of  liberty,  "but  an  infernal  coalition 
(with  the  court)  has  robbed  him  of  his  principles  and  his  glory ;  he 
is  nothing  to  me  now." 

And  he  supported  the  demand  for  the  indictment,  which  was 
passionately  and  eloquently  combated  by  the  Eight. 

There  was  a  moment  of  great  anxiety.  The  majority  depended 
upon  the  mass  of  deputies  of  the  Centre,  who  fluctuated  between 
the  Feuillants  and  the  Girondists,  oftenest  voting  with  the  latter. 

At  the  moment  of  tramplfng  under  foot  so  many  noble  memories 
and  of  ignoring  so  many  brilliant  services,  the  majority  felt  its 
courage  falter.  The  Centre  voted  with  the  Eight;  the  act  of 
indictment  was  rejected  by  four  hundred  and  six  votes  against  two 
hundred  and  twenty-four. 

In  sustaining  the  general  who  protected  the  throne,  the  Assembly 
placed  itself  in  opposition  to  the  revolutionary  movement,  whose 
leading  impulse  was  to  do  away  with  royalty.  The  Assembly 
had  abdicated.  Following  the  example  of  the  Constituent,  the 
Legislative  Assembly  in  its  turn  had  ceased  to  be  at  the  head  of 
the  Eevolution. 

Upon  leaving  the  hall  of  sessions,  the  leading  members  of  the 
Eight  were  insulted  and  maltreated  by  the  mob.  There  was  ex- 
treme excitement  in  the  city ;  the  masses  began  to  cry  out  against 
the  Assembly  as  well  as  against  the  king.  The  next  day's  session 
was  full  of  recrimination  and  disorder.  No  definite  conclusion  was 
reached,  no  decisive  measures  were  adopted. 

The  Eevolution  did  not  wait.  At  midnight  the  alarm-bell  rang 
and  the  gdndrale  was  beaten.  The  sections  had  decreed  this  move- 
ment, and  there  was  no  surprise ;  it  was  the  challenge  to  a  duel 
between  the  people  and  the  court. 

At  the  Tuileries  all  slept  under  arms.  The  Swiss  had  been  sum- 
moned from  Courbevoie  and  from  Eueil.  The  regiment  was  not 
complete;  it  numbered  only  a  thousand  men.  Two  thousand 
nobles  still  in  Paris  had  been  forewarned;  a  few  hundreds  had 


282  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

come  to  the  palace.  The  king's  ancient  constitutional  guards  and 
that  host  of  adventurers  the  court  maintained  in  Paris,  excepting 
a  small  number  who  had  adopted  the  red  uniform  of  the  Swiss 
and  who  were  confounded  with  them,  did  not  appear.  Others 
doubtless  figured  among  the  small  bands  of  armed  men,  the  pre- 
tended patrols  of  the  national  guard,  who  during  the  night  had 
tried  in  vain  to  enter  the  Tuileries,  and  whose  passage  was  pre- 
vented by  the  real  national  guard  and  the  Jacobins.  One  of  these 
feigned  national  guards,  who  was  found  to  be  a  counter-revolu- 
tionary journalist  much  detested  by  the  Parisians,  was  arrested 
and  slain. 

There  were  no  regular  soldiers  in  Paris,  the  National  Assembly 
having  sent  them  to  the  frontiers. 

Everything  depended  upon  the  part  taken  by  the  national  guard. 
The  gendarmes,  foot  and  mounted,  a  picked  corps  but  little  to  be 
relied  on  by  the  court,  would  probably  follow  the  example  of  the 
national  guard. 

The  chief  of  the  legion,  who  at  this  moment  had  command,  was 
not  the  weak,  unreliable  leader  of  June  20.  He  was  an  old  soldier, 
named  Mandat,  energetic  and  experienced,  a  Feuillant,  but  not  a 
counter-revolutionist.  He  resolved  to  defend  to  the  death  the  king 
and  the  royal  residence.  The  usual  guard  of  the  palace  was  only 
six  hundred  men;  but  Mandat  had  summoned  sixteen  battalions, 
those  upon  whom  he  believed  he  could  rely  among  the  sixty  battal- 
ions, forty  thousand  men  in  all,  who  composed  the  national  guard. 
He  ordered  the  rappel  to  be  beaten  while  the  revolutionists  beat 
the  gtn&ale.  There  were  eleven  cannon  in  the  approaches  to  the 
palace. 

Mandat  had  occupied  the  Pont-Neuf  with  the  battalion  from 
the  Henri  IV.  section,  which  belonged  to  La  Fayette's  party,  and 
which  guarded  the  reserve  park  of  artillery ;  this  battalion,  with  its 
cannon  seconded  by  the  detachments  which  guarded  the  other 
bridges,  was  to  prevent  the  junction  of  the  insurgents  from  the  two 
banks  of  the  Seine.  Another  battalion,  posted  at  the  Arcade  Saint- 
Jean,  near  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  was  to  take  in  the  rear  the  Faubourg 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  283 

Saint- Antoine,  and  the  mounted  gendarmes,  a  thousand  cavalry, 
posted  at  the  Louvre,  were  to  charge  upon  the  faubourg  in  front. 

These  arrangements  were  very  formidable,  if  the  battalions  sum- 
moned by  Mandat  could  be  relied  on  to  execute  them. 

The  commander-in-chief,  in  accord  with  the  procureur-general, 
syndic  of  the  department,  had  written  to  the  mayor,  Petion,  urging 
him  to  join  them  at  the  Tuileries.  As  a  magistrate,  Petion  was  re- 
quired to  oppose  the  movement ;  as  a  citizen,  he  desired  its  success. 
He  sought  to  keep  aloof  from  it,  but  he  could  not  avoid  going  to 
the  palace.  It  was  as  a  hostage  the  mayor  had  been  summoned 
to  the  Tuileries,  and  he  was  retained  there  several  hours.  At  length 
the  National  Assembly,  knowing  him  to  be  menaced  by  the  royalist 
guards  and  the  nobles,  summoned  him  to  its  bar.  The  court  did 
not  dare  prevent  his  obeying  this  summons.  From  the  Assembly 
he  returned  to  the  mayoralty,  and  remained  there. 

Upon  the  right  bank  the  signal  had  been  given  by  the  most  revo- 
lutionary sections  of  the  Centre,  the  Mauconseil,  Gravilliers,  and 
Lombards ;  upon  the  left  bank,  by  the  section  of  the  Theatre-Fran- 
qais,  which  was  that  of  the  Cordeliers,  of  Danton,  and  Camille  Des- 
moulins.  There  was  some  hesitation  at  this  critical  moment ;  the 
Faubourg  Saint- Antoine,  which  five  days  before  had  appointed  this 
formidable  meeting  of  the  sections,  did  not  ring  the  alarm-bell  until 
an  hour  after  the  centre  of  the  city.  Meantime  the  alarm-bell  and 
the  generate  were  resounding  from  quarter  to  quarter,  but  many 
sections  hesitated,  and  a  few  were  opposed  to  the  movement. 

At  the  Tuileries  confidence  began  to  be  restored ;  the  emissaries 
who  returned  to  render  the  court  an  account  of  what  was  taking 
place  declared  that  there  was  only  a  small  uprising,  that  few  of  the 
alarm-bells  were  ringing. 

Highly  important  events  of  which  the  court  was  not  advised  had 
meantime  occurred  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The  council-general  of 
the  commune  had  very  recently  invited  the  sections  to  send  dele- 
gates to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  on  the  10th  of  August,  to  deliberate 
with  the  commune  on  a  project  for  forming  a  camp  near  Paris,  and 
the  means  of  defending  the  capital  from  invasion.  At  eleven  in 


284  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

the  evening  the  Quinze-Vingts  section  had  decreed  the  appointment 
of  three  commissioners  who  were  to  meet  those  of  the  other  sections 
to  consult  upon  the  safety  of  the  country. 

The  Quinze-Vingts  hastily  communicated  their  decree  to  all  the 
sections,  and  several  of  them  rallied  at  the  Hotel  de  Yille.  The 
appointments  were  hastily  made  by  the  few  citizens  present  at  this 
late  hour :  the  list  contained  few  well-known  names,  and  some  of 
evil  repute ;  Hubert's  was  one,  but  none  of  the  great  revolutionary 
leaders  were  there. 

The  commissioners  who  had  been  elected  arrived  one  after  another 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville ;  nearly  twenty  sections  out  of  the  forty-eight 
sent  no  representative.  The  sectional  committee  was  installed  in  a 
hall  near  the  throne  hall,  where  the  general  council  of  the  commune 
held  its  sessions.  The  most  important  aim  of  this  committee  was 
to  thwart  the  plans  of  Mandat,  and  it  obtained  from  the  commune 
a  repeal  of  the  order  given  by  him,  to  form  a  battery  with  the 
cannon  on  the  Pont-Neuf.  The  cannon  were  sent  back  to  the 
park  of  artillery. 

The  committee  urged  the  commune  council  to  summon  Mandat 
to  the  Hotel  de  Yille.  After  the  council  had  several  times  sent  the 
summons,  Mandat  obeyed,  coming  from  the  Tuileries  without  sus- 
picion and  with  no  escort. 

The  members  of  the  council  who  favored  the  insurrection  re- 
proached Mandat  with  having  stirred  up  the  masses  by  his  prepara- 
tions for  resistance.  He  replied  that  he  had  only  taken  the  needful 
precautions  for  defending  the  palace  which  was  under  his  protection. 

When  leaving  the  council-hall  he  was  arrested  and  taken  before 
the  committee  of  the  sections.  The  committee  declared  him  de- 
prived of  the  chief  command,  and  appointed  Santerre,  temporarily, 
in  his  place.  He  submitted  to  an  examination  in  regard  to  the 
orders  he  had  given,  the  dangers  Potion  had  incurred  at  the  palace, 
and  the  forces  which  were  defending  it.  Huguenin,  president  of 
the  committee,  requested  him  to  send  an  order  to  the  Tuileries  re- 
ducing the  guard  to  its  usual  number ;  Mandat  courageously  refused. 

At  this  moment  there  was  brought  to  the  committee  Mandat's 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  285 

written  order  to  the  commander  of  the  city  battalion  to  disperse 
the  mob  which  was  marching  upon  the  palace,  by  attacking  it  in 
rear. 

This  revelation  excited  great  fury ;  Mandat  was  accused  of  trea- 
son and  decreed  under  arrest.  The  general  council  of  the  com- 
mune informed  the  committee  that  the  right  to  arrest  a  citizen 
belonged  only  to  justices  of  the  peace ;  the  committee  replied  that 
the  people,  being  in  a  state  of  insurrection,  would  for  the  present 
be  represented  by  the  delegates  chosen  from  the  sections. 

The  committee  now  decided  to  suspend  the  general  council  of 
the  commune,  but  to  allow  the  mayor,  the  procureur,  and  the  six- 
teen administrators  composing  its  executive  power,  to  continue 
their  functions.  The  council  resisted,  and  appealed  to  the  National 
Assembly.  The  sections  also  appealed  to  the  Assembly,  but  without 
awaiting  its  response  they  invaded  the  throne  halL 

The  general  council  was  suspended. 

The  sectional  committee,  thus  transformed  into  an  insurrectional 
committee,  ordered  Mandat's  transfer  to  the  Abbaye  prison.  He 
lived  only  to  reach  the  Place  de  Greve.  Upon  the  grand  stairway 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  his  head  was  pierced  by  a  pistol-shot.  The 
new  commune  also  arrested  the  mayor,  and  kept  him  in  his  hotel 
under  guard  of  a  battalion,  the  leaders  of  the  insurrection  agreeing 
to  retain  him  there. 

In  the  city  all  hesitation  was  over.  The  revolutionary  battalions 
and  the  men  armed  with  pikes  were  at  length  united.  A  powerful 
attacking  column  was  formed  in  the  Rue  Saint-Antoine.  The  Fau- 
bourg Saint- Antoine  had  effected  a  junction  with  the  central  sec- 
tions, and,  after  passing  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  armed  mass  of  the 
right  bank  was  rejoined  by  the  Marseillais,  the  Cordeliers,  and  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Marceau ;  they  defiled  through  the  Pont-Neuf,  the 
Feuillant  battalions  of  the  City  and  the  Grands-Augustins  not  at- 
tempting to  arrest  them.  The  mounted  gendarmerie  posted  at  the 
Louvre  cried,  "  Vive  la  Nation  ! "  and  let  them  pass. 

Before  eight  in  the  morning  the  first  insurgent  bands  appeared 
at  the  Carrousel 


286  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

A  great  change  had  taken  place  in  the  situation  at  the  Tuileries. 
The  king,  urged  on  by  those  around  him,  had  reviewed  the  palace 
guard  and  the  battalions  summoned  by  Mandat.  Louis  XVI.  had 
the  courage  of  resignation,  but  not  that  of  action.  With  his  wan 
face,  his  melancholy  glance,  and  his  embarrassed  words,  he  could 
neither  move  nor  animate  the  soldiers.  He  was  received  with  cries 
of  "  Vive  le  Roi ! "  in  the  royal  court  where  the  Feuillant  battalions 
were  posted,  but  from  the  garden  side  shouts  of  "  Vive  la  Nation  ! " 
dominated,  and  even  the  cannoneers  cried,  "  Down  with  the  veto ! 
Down  with  the  king  ! " 

When  Louis  XVI.  re-entered  the  palace,  pale  as  death,  the  queen 
said  to  one  of  her  ladies,  "  The  king  has  no  energy ;  all  is  lost ! " 

It  was  evident  that  the  greater  part  of  the  battalions  summoned 
by  Mandat  would  aid  rather  than  fight  the  insurgents.  Even  the 
Feuillant  national  guard,  disposed  to  defend  the  king,  regarded  as 
enemies  the  armed  nobles  who  occupied  the  royal  apartments. 

Eoederer,  the  procureur-general-syndic  of  the  department,  and 
two  municipal  officers  went  to  visit  the  posts,  and  to  advise  the 
national  guards  not  to  attack  but  to  make  a  good  defence.  The 
cannoneers  replied  by  drawing  the  charges  from  their  cannon  and 
extinguishing  their  matches.  The  national  guards  declared  that 
they  would  not  fire  upon  their  brothers.  The  mob  which  occupied 
the  Carrousel  was  already  knocking  at  the  gate  of  the  royal  court. 
This  gate  was  near  the  triumphal  arch  of  the  Carrousel,  and  twenty 
steps  in  the  rear  of  the  palace. 

An  officer  of  cannoneers  came  to  declare  that  the  people  wished 
to  defend  the  National  Assembly  against  the  conspiracies  of  the 
court,  and  would  remain  under  arms  until  the  Assembly  should 
have  pronounced  the  dethronement  of  the  king.  The  departmental 
and  municipal  authorities,  deeming  further  resistance  impossible, 
renewed  the  advice  they  had  already  given  the  king. 

"Sire,"  said  Eoederer,  "your  Majesty  has  not  five  minutes  to 
lose;  there  is  safety  for  you  only  in  the  National  Assembly." 

"  But,  monsieur,"  said  the  queen,  "  we  have  soldiers  —  " 

"  Madame,  all  Paris  is  moving ;  time  presses." 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF   ROYALTY.  287 

The  king  gazed  intently  at  the  procureur-syndic ;  then,  turning 
to  the  queen,  he  said,  "  Let  us  go  ! " 

The  king  left  with  his  family  and  his  ministers,  escorted  by  three 
hundred  national  guards  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  Swiss. 

Toward  half  past  eight  in  the  morning  Louis  XVI.  left  the  Tuile- 
ries,  never  again  to  return. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  nobles  gathered  at  the  palace  laid 
down  their  arms  and  escaped  through  the  garden.  Although  it 
was  midsummer,  the  garden  was  strewn  with  dead  leaves.  "The 
leaves  fall  early  this  year,"  said  the  king. 

Manuel,  the  procureur  of  the  commune,  had  recently  written  in 
a  public  journal  that  the  king  would  not  go  until  the  falling  of  the 
leaves. 

The  Assembly,  few  in  numbers,  had  remained  in  session  since 
midnight  It  had  deliberated  much,  but  had  not  acted.  The  major- 
ity of  its  members  feared  equally  the  triumph  and  the  defeat  of  the 
insurrection.  A  deputation  sent  to  meet  the  king  joined  him  near 
the  Feuillant  terrace,  and  had  great  difficulty  in  introducing  him 
into  the  hall  of  sessions,  amid  a  hostile  throng  of  men  and  women 
which  blocked  up  the  terrace.  The  mob  clamored  far  more  furi- 
ously against  the  queen  than  against  the  king. 

Amid  the  pressure  at  the  moment  of  entrance  a  national  guards- 
man whose  menacing  visage  had  frightened  the  queen  lifted  the 
little  prince  in  his  arms.  The  queen  raised  a  cry  of  terror,  but 
the  man  said  to  her,  "Have  no  fear,"  and  placed  the  child  upon 
a  secretary's  desk. 

The  king  said  to  the  Assembly :  "  I  have  come  here  to  prevent 
a  great  crime,  and  I  think  I  could  nowhere  be  safer  than  in  your 
midst,  gentlemen." 

The  president  replied :  "  You  can  rely,  Sire,  upon  the  constancy 
of  the  Xational  Assembly.  Its  members  have  sworn  to  die  defend- 
ing the  rights  of  the  people  and  the  constituted  authorities." 

The  president  was  Vergniaud. 

The  king  and  his  family  were  seated  upon  the  benches  allotted 
to  the  ministers.  A  member  of  the  Assembly  having  remarked 


288  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

that  the  Constitution  forbade  the  deputies  deliberating  in  the 
presence  of  the  king,  Louis  XVI.  and  his  family  were  forced  to 
enter  a  latticed  box  usually  occupied  by  the  short-hand  reporters, 
who,  by  an  art  recently  discovered,  had  begun  to  reproduce  instan- 
taneously the  debates  of  the  Assembly. 

Eoederer  presented  a  report  upon  the  situation.  At  its  close 
he  announced  that  he  had  just  learned  that  the  enclosure  of  the 
Tuileries  had  been  forced,  and  that  cannon  were  levelled  against  the 
palace.  These  tidings  were  brought  by  the  officer  who  had  assumed 
command  after  the  departure  of  the  ill-fated  Mandat.  He  asked 
orders  from  the  Assembly. 

The  Assembly  decreed  that  persons  and  property  should  be  placed 
under  the  safeguard  of  the  city  of  Paris,  and  that  twenty-five  depu- 
ties should  be  sent  to  transmit  this  decree  and  to  arrest  hostilities. 

The  deputation  left. 

An  instant  after,  a  discharge  of  musketry  was  heard,  then  a  pro- 
longed fusillade,  and  then  the  boom  of  a  cannon. 

The  queen's  courage  revived.  She  said  excitedly  to  M.  d'Her- 
villi,  an  officer  who  was  near  her,  "Ah,  well!  have  we  not  acted 
wisely  in  remaining  ? " 

"I  would  like  to  have  your  Majesty  ask  me  that  question  six 
months  hence,"  replied  D'Hervilli. 

The  queen  hoped  for  victory ;  the  deputies  for  a  moment  believed 
in  defeat.  Alarm-bells  rang  furiously  from  all  the  churches  of  the 
Saint-Honor^  quarter.  A  charge  of  musketry  burst  forth  beneath 
the  very  windows  of  the  Assembly.  Some  deputies  arose  as  if  to 
leave.  "  Eemain,"  cried  their  colleagues ;  "  it  is  here  we  ought  to 
die!" 

The  president  (it  was  Guadet  who  had  replaced  Vergniaud)  at 
this  moment  announced  that  the  shots  which  had  shaken  the  win- 
dows of  the  Assembly  had  been  fired  by  the  Swiss  of  the  king's 
escort,  who  had  discharged  their  arms  and  retired ;  a  minister  then 
declared  that  the  king  was  about  to  send  the  Swiss  an  order  to 
evacuate  the  Tuileries  and  return  to  their  barracks. 

Louis  XVI.,  in  fact,  strongly  urged  to  end  the  combat,  had  given 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  289 

this  written  order  to  D'Hervilli,  who  had  accepted  it  only  on  con- 
dition of  being  authorized  to  make  whatever  use  of  it  he  should 
judge  best 

The  twenty-five  deputies  returned;  it  had  been  impossible  for 
them  to  make  way  through  the  crowd  and  to  fulfil  their  mission. 

The  discharge  of  grape-shot  and  the  cannonade  redoubled. 

The  entire  Assembly  rose,  and  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  trib- 
unes swore  to  perish,  if  need  be,  for  liberty  and  equality. 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  the  Assembly,  the  king's 
departure  from  the  Tuileries  had  demoralized  the  Feuillant  bat- 
talions which  occupied  the  court  on  the  Carrousel  side.  The  most 
of  the  national  guards  had  returned  to  their  homes.  Some  had 
gone  over  to  the  insurgents,  and  a  small  number  had  re-entered  the 
palace  with  the  Swiss,  after  the  commanders  had  ordered  the  evac- 
uation of  the  courts. 

The  gates  of  the  three  courts  were  about  to  be  forced ;  the  door- 
keepers opened  them.  The  vanguard  of  the  insurgents  entered 
through  the  main  gate,  that  of  the  royal  court.  The  cannoneers 
of  the  national  guard,  remaining  in  this  court  with  their  artillery, 
joined  the  insurgents  and  turned  their  cannon  against  the  palace. 
The  foot  gendarmes  —  almost  all  former  French  guards  —  also  left 
the  Swiss  and  passed  over  to  the  insurrection. 

An  effort  was  made  to  gain  over  even  those  Swiss  who  were 
ranged  upon  the  grand  staircase  and  at  the  windows.  A  band  of 
Parisians  and  Marseillais  penetrated  the  vestibule  as  far  as  the 
staircase.  An  energetic  Alsatian,  named  Westermann,  harangued 
the  Swiss  in  German;  imploring  them  not  to  fight  against  the 
French,  and  assuring  them  they  should  not  be  disarmed  if  they  left 
the  palace. 

The  Swiss  soldiers  appeared  very  irresolute;  some  threw  their 
cartouches  out  of  the  windows ;  others  at  the  foot  of  the  staircase 
allowed  themselves  to  be  enticed  away  by  the  federates. 

What  happened  then  ?  We  shall  never  know  with  certainty. 
Were  shots  first  fired  from  the  windows  by  royalists  in  order  to 
begin  the  conflict,  or  did  the  Swiss  officers,  fearing  that  their  soldiers 

19 


290  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X 

might  yield  to  the  advances  of  the  insurgents,  suddenly  give  the 
order  to  fire?  It  is  certain  that  a  shot  from  the  grand  stairway 
fell  amid  the  mob  and  strewed  the  vestibule  with  dead. 

The  mob  fell  back  with  cries  of  rage  and  terror.  The  Swiss 
defiled  through  the  royal  court,  and  from  thence  through  the  Car- 
rousel, driving  the  mob  before  them,  and  by  their  fire  in  platoons 
routing  the  insurgents. 

But  once  at  the  end  of  the  Carrousel,  then  one  third  of  its  pres- 
ent size,  the  Swiss  were  arrested  by  a  very  lively  discharge  of 
musketry  from  the  little  streets  which  filled  the  interval  between 
the  courts  of  the  Louvre  and  the  Tuileries,  and  received  on  the 
flank  showers  of  grape-shot  from  windows  along  the  quay. 

The  insurgents  soon  rallied.  The  Swiss  had  to  make  way  against 
the  Marseillais,  a  little  battalion  of  very  valiant  Breton  federates 
arrived  from  Brest,  and  the  elite  of  the  revolutionary  Parisians. 

The  Swiss  fell  back  upon  the  palace,  whence  they  made  some 
other  sorties,  which  for  a  time  held  the  insurgents  in  check,  but 
each  of  which  cost  dear  to  the  already  small  number  of  the  be- 
sieged. 

It  was  then  that  D'Hervilli  arrived.  He  was  a  resolute  man, 
and  his  plan,  if  he  saw  a  chance  of  success,  was  to  keep  the  king's 
order  in  his  pocket  and  continue  the  combat.  But  he  very  soon 
comprehended  the  situation.  The  ammunition  of  the  Swiss  was 
exhausted ;  they  could  not  reply  to  the  cannon  which  were  attack- 
ing the  palace.  The  insurgent  forces  kept  increasing ;  no  outside 
aid  was  to  be  looked  for.  The  battalions  of  national  guards  which 
occupied  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries  were  evidently  favorable  to 
the  insurrection. 

D'Hervilli  yielded,  and  in  the  king's  name  ordered  the  Swiss 
to  repair  to  the  Assembly. 

The  Swiss  ceased  firing,  and  left  the  palace  in  good  order,  through 
the  garden.  But  there  the  national  guards,  believing  they  had 
come  to  take  the  defensive,  fired  upon  them.  The  Swiss  were 
divided  into  two  columns :  the  first  succeeded  in  gaining  the  terrace 
occupied  by  the  Feuillants,  where  they  laid  down  their  arms ;  the 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  291 

second  division,  seeking  to  leave  the  garden  by  the  swing-bridge, 
was  assailed  on  all  sides  by  national  guards,  by  the  insurgents  of  the 
Carrousel  who  had  already  passed  through  the  palace,  and  finally 
by  the  mounted  gendarmes.  Almost  every  one  of  this  ill-fated 
band  perished. 

The  palace,  meantime,  was  the  theatre  of  scenes  still  more  ter- 
rible. The  conquerors  were  pitiless,  the  supposed  treachery  of 
the  Swiss  goading  them  on  to  fury.  "  Vengeance ! "  was  the  cry ; 
"they  fired  on  us,  when  we  would  have  embraced  them!"  The 
Marseillais  leaders  and  other  influential  men  tried  in  vain  to  arrest 
the  popular  fury.  From  sixty  to  eighty  Swiss  guards  they  were 
endeavoring  to  conduct  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  were  slain  on  the 
route ;  a  small  number  who  had  not  succeeded  in  leaving  the  gar- 
den with  their  comrades,  sold  their  lives  dear  in  the  interior  of 
the  palace;  very  few  escaped.  A  national  guardsman,  having 
saved  the  life  of  one  of  the  Swiss  he  had  taken  prisoner,  embracing 
him,  presented  him  to  the  Assembly;  but  this  example  was  not 
followed.  Almost  all  the  men  found  at  the  palace  —  in  the  apart- 
ments, on  the  roofs,  in  the  cellars  —  were  put  to  death.  Among  the 
few  spared  were  old  Marshal  de  Mailli,  whose  white  hairs  were 
protected  by  a  federate,  and  the  king's  physician. 

The  women  were  saved.  One  of  the  queen's  ladies  has  related 
that  a  man  with  a  long  beard  arrived,  crying  in  the  name  of  Petion, 
"  Spare  the  women !  Let  us  not  dishonor  the  nation  ! "  The  Mar- 
seillais aiding  in  their  defence,  not  one  was  harmed. 

There  were  thieves  in  the  sack  of  the  Tuileries,  but  the  masses, 
far  from  pillaging,  savagely  restrained  pillage.  Fifteen  thieves  were 
dragged  to  the  Place  Vendome  and  shot  by  the  people. 

Those  of  the  ancient  noblesse  who  had  remained  in  the  palace 
and  taken  part  in  the  combat,  as  well  as  some  national  guards,  were 
more  fortunate  than  the  Swiss.  They  succeeded  in  escaping  through 
the  great  gallery  of  the  Louvre. 

Royalty  had  met  its  death-blow;  toward  noon  all  was  over. 
Vergniaud  mounted  to  the  tribune,  and  said  that  he  had  come  in 
the  name  of  the  special  Commission  of  Twenty-One,  to  present  a 


292  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  X. 

very  rigorous  measure  to  the  Assembly.  "  But,"  added  he,  "  while 
myself  feeling  the  sorrow  with  which  you  are  penetrated,  I,  like 
you,  can  judge  how  important  it  is  to  the  safety  of  the  country 
that  you  adopt  this  measure  immediately." 

"The  National  Assembly,  considering  the  dangers  of  the  country  at 
then?  height,  and  that  its  misfortunes  arise  principally  from  distrust  occa- 
sioned by  the  conduct  of  its  chief  executive  in  a  war  undertaken  in  his 
name  (by  foreign  powers)  against  the  Constitution  and  the  national  inde- 
pendence, and  that  this  distrust  has  in  divers  portions  of  France  excited 
a  desire  for  the  revocation  of  the  authority  delegated  to  Louis  XVI. ; 

"  And  furthermore,  considering  that  the  National  Assembly  can  recon- 
cile its  fidelity  to  the  Constitution  and  its  resolve  to  be  buried  under  the 
ruins  of  the  temple  of  liberty  rather  than  allow  it  to  perish,  only  by 
recourse  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  by  taking  the  requisite 
precautions  that  this  resource  shall  not  be  rendered  illusory  by  new 
treasons ; 

"  Decrees  that  the  French  people  is  invited  to  form  a  NATIONAL  CON- 
VENTION ; 

"The  chief  of  the  executive  power  is  suspended  from  his  functions 
until  the  National  Convention  has  spoken; 

"Every  public  functionary,  and  every  soldier,  who  in  these  days  of 
alarm  shall  abandon  his  post,  is  declared  a  traitor  to  the  country." 

The  decree  passed,  and  was  inserted  in  the  Bulletin  of  Laws  with 
this  formula :  "  In  the  name  of  the  Nation." 

Numerous  petitioners  insisted  vehemently  upon  the  immediate 
deposition  of  the  king.  Vergniaud  replied  firmly  that  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  people  had  done  everything  the  Constitution  allowed ; 
that  the  suspension  of  the  executive  power  deprived  it  of  all  means 
of  doing  harm,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to  wait  until  the  Conven- 
tion had  pronounced  in  virtue  of  the  full  powers  conferred  upon 
it  by  the  sovereign  people. 

The  petitioners  were  appeased,  and  departed  to  make  known  to 
the  people  the  resolution  of  the  Assembly. 

An  important  addition  completed  the  decree :  — 

"  The  National  Assembly,  desirous  of  solemnly  consecrating  the  principle 


1792.]  THE  FALL  OF  ROYALTY.  293 

of  liberty  and  equality,  declares  that  in  future  every  citizen  aged  twenty- 
five  years,  living  from  the  proceeds  of  his  labor,  and  domiciled  for  one 
year,  shall  be  admitted  to  vote  in  the  primary  assemblies." 

The  Assembly  decreed  the  formation  of  a  camp  near  Paris  and 
of  batteries  upon  Montmartre.  It  appointed  twelve  commissioners 
to  visit  the  armies  and  insure  their  obedience  to  the  National 
Assembly.  They  were  vested  with  full  power  even  to  depose  and 
to  sentence  generals ;  Carnot  figured  among  them. 

The  Assembly  also  reconstructed  the  executive  power,  recalling 
to  the  ministry,  by  acclamation,  Roland,  Claviere,  and  Servan,  and 
choosing  three  new  ministers;  the  marine  was  confided  to  the 
savant  Monge,  foreign  affairs  to  a  diplomatist  named  Lebrun,  the 
ministry  of  justice  to  D ANTON. 

At  half  past  three  in  the  morning  the  Assembly  suspended  this 
session  of  thirty  hours,  during  which  French  royalty  had  come  to 
an  end.  The  family  of  Hugh  Capet  had  for  eight  centuries  ruled 
over  France. 


294  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XI. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

END  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  —  THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN  THE 
ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  COMMUNE.  —  THE  SEPTEMBER  MASSACRES.  — 
ELECTION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION.  —  PROCLAMATION  OF  THE 
REPUBLIC. 

August  11  to  September  91,  1792. 

SINCE  1789  France  had  dated  her  public  acts  from  the  era  of 
liberty.  Beginning  with  the  establishment  of  universal  suf- 
frage, she  united  the  eras  of  equality  and  liberty,  and  dated  from  the 
fourth  year  of  liberty  the  first  year  of  equality. 

The  Assembly,  by  a  decree  passed  on  the  llth  of  August,  fixed 
the  primary  elections  for  the  26th  of  August,  the  election  of  depu- 
ties to  the  Convention  for  September  2,  and  the  meeting  of  the 
Convention  for  September  20. 

The  electoral  proceedings  and  the  successive  nomination  of  depu- 
ties in  each  department  by  individual  ballot  would  require  a  long 
time ;  the  interval  between  the  fall  of  the  throne  and  the  meeting 
of  the  Convention,  endowed  with  full  power  by  the  people,  would 
be  fraught  with  great  peril.  The  Legislative  Assembly,  which  pre- 
served only  a  slight  remnant  of  authority,  found  itself  confronted 
by  a  new  power,  unreliable,  violent,  and  audacious,  —  the  commune 
of  August  10,  that  is  to  say,  the  committees  riotously  elected  by 
the  doubtful  majority  of  the  sections,  which  included  revolutionary 
fanatics  and  men  of  misguided  ambition  who  were  capable  of  any- 
thing. The  masses,  although  full  of  patriotic  intentions,  were  so 
much  swayed  by  passion  and  possessed  so  little  knowledge  that  they 
were  easily  drawn  on  by  the  leaders. 

The  only  means  of  avoiding  dire  catastrophes  was  the  agreement 
of  the  ministry ;  much  also  depended  upon  an  accord  between  the 


DANTON. 


1792.]          END  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  295 

two  most  powerful  minds  left  to  the  Revolution  now  that  Mirabeau 
was  dead,  —  Madame  Roland  and  Danton.  That  they  did  not  come 
to  an  understanding  was  the  fault  of  both.  Danton's  bad  reputation 
had  prejudiced  Madame  Roland  against  him  ;  his  personal  appear- 
ance and  his  language  aggravated  this  sentiment  upon  a  nearer 
acquaintance. 

Was  Danton's  bad  reputation  merited  ?  Before  his  hands  were 
stained  with  blood  he  had  been  accused  of  the  same  vices  as  Mira- 
beau, and  of  the  same  venal  connivance  with  the  court.  His  life 
was  said  to  be  very  disorderly,  and  the  most  veracious  writers,  such 
as  La  Fayette  and  Madame  Roland,  have  accused  him  of  dishonor- 
able transactions  with  the  government.  For  a  long  time  these  ac- 
cusations were  generally  believed. 

But  within  a  few  years  Danton's  private  life  has  been  thoroughly 
examined  and  found  very  different  from  the  idea  usually  formed 
of  it.  The  honest  bourgeois  family  in  which  Danton  was  reared, 
simple,  virtuous,  and  united,  offers  a  perfect  contrast  to  the  feudal 
family  of  Mirabeau,  so  disorderly,  so  demoralized,  and  so  fearfully 
divided.  Danton,  a  devoted  son,  a  disinterested  brother,  an  affection- 
ate husband,  was  never  the  ignorant,  idle,  debauched  young  man, 
the  wretched  briefless  lawyer,  commonly  represented  to  us.  He 
was  a  man  of  fine  culture,  and  when,  in  1787,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
eight,  he  was  received  into  the  king's  council  as  an  advocate,  he 
delivered,  according  to  general  custom,  a  Latin  discourse  which  pre- 
sented a  heartrending  picture  of  the  condition  of  France.  Predict- 
ing the  approach  of  a  terrible  revolution,  Danton  expressed  regret 
therein  that  it  could  not  be  deferred  thirty  years,  so  that  it  might 
take  place  peaceably  through,  the  progress  of  intelligence ;  and  he 
ended  with  this  prophetic  exclamation :  "  Woe  to  those  who  incite 
revolutions !  Woe  to  those  who  execute  them ! " 

Although  there  does  not  exist  the  slightest  evidence  of  Danton's 
venality,  appearances  were  against  him.  His  affiliations  with  men 
of  both  good  and  bad  repute,  fitted  to  carry  out  daring  projects,  his 
harsh,  imprudent  language,  and  an  unscrupulousness,  of  which  he 
boasted,  in  any  measure  which  could  serve  the  Revolution,  shocked 


296  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XL 

that  austere  morality  always  preserved  by  Madame  Roland  under 
amiable  manners  and  an  honest  freedom  of  thought  and  speech. 
Danton  was  devoid  of  principle,  but  he  possessed  generous  senti- 
ments and  warm  affections.  Madame  Roland  recognized  Danton's 
ability,  but  believed  it  wholly  devoted  to  evil  She  distrusted  the 
sincerity  of  the  affection  he  protested  for  liberty  and  his  country, 
and  of  the  wishes  he  expressed  for  the  union  of  all  good  citizens ; 
she  did  not  comprehend  the  magnanimous  soul  that  lay  under  his 
grotesque,  repulsive  exterior.  She  saw  in  Danton  only  an  ambi- 
tious, corrupt,  and  sanguinary  man,  who  aimed  at  becoming  a  tyrant, 
and  chose  Robespierre  and  Marat  for  his  instruments.  This  was  a 
grievous  error.  Marat  was  the  instrument  of  his  own  fury  and  mad- 
ness, and  Robespierre  was  no  man's  instrument.  Madame  Roland 
judged  Danton  a  cold,  indifferent  rhetorician,  and  did  not  appreciate 
the  fearful  power  of  his  inflexible  will,  and  his  tact  in  managing 
popular  assemblies.  She  saw  peril  for  the  Revolution,  where  its 
safety  should  have  been,  with  Danton;  she  did  not  see  that  the 
peril  really  lay  with  Marat  for  the  present,  with  Robespierre  for  the 
future.  The  rupture  between  Madame  Roland  and  Danton  was 
the  old  quarrel  between  Rousseau  and  Diderot,  the  discord  between 
the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  renewed  with  far  more 
disastrous  consequences.  An  unfortunate  incident  had  occurred  on 
the  evening  of  August  10.  A  band  of  villains  and  madmen  had 
borne  in  triumph  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  Marat,  who  emerged  from 
his  cellar  like  a  frightened  owl  from  his  hole.  This  hideous  figure 
was  destined  nevermore  to  quit  the  hall  of  sessions.  Marat  ruled 
the  commune,  although  not  a  member  of  it.  In  the  subsequent 
elections  to  complete  the  new  commune,  Robespierre  was  chosen  by 
the  Piques  section  (Place  Vendome).  He  had  treated  Marat  as  a 
lunatic  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  but  at  the  commune  he  was  careful 
not  to  offend  or  to  oppose  him. 

On  the  llth  of  August  the  commune  applauded  Petion  when 
he  announced  that  the  populace  had  agreed  henceforth  to  leave  all 
executions  to  the  law.  The  commune  seemed  disposed  to  second 
the  National  Assembly  in  shielding  the  imprisoned  Swiss  officers 


1792.]  THE  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  COMMUNE.  297 

from  popular  vengeance.  The  conflict  of  the  10th  had  scarce  ended 
when  the  Assembly  placed  the  Swiss  and  other  foreigners  under 
the  safeguard  of  the  law.  On  the  morning  of  the  llth,  as  the  out- 
side rabble  menaced  the  Swiss,  who  had  remained  in  the  Feuillant 
buildings,  the  tribunes  aided  the  Assembly  in  introducing  them 
into  its  hall  of  sessions,  where  they  swore  fidelity  to  the  French 
people.  The  Assembly  having  decreed  a  court-martial  to  try  the 
Swiss,  Danton,  the  new  minister  of  justice,  said  at  the  outset: 
"When  actions  at  law  begin,  popular  vengeance  should  cease." 
These  words  define  the  true  mission  of  the  court-martial  This 
purely  military  tribunal  was  to  condemn  only  the  leaders  convicted 
of  having  made  their  soldiers  fire  upon  the  people.  The  officers 
were  taken  to  the  Abbaye  prison,  the  private  soldiers  to  the  Palais- 
Bourbon.  The  Marseillais  escorted  them,  declaring  that  now  they 
were  conquered  they  should  no  longer  be  regarded  as  enemies. 
Most  of  the  Swiss  soldiers  were  allowed  to  enroll  themselves  in 
French  regiments,  and  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  soldiers  gathered 
at  the  Palais-Bourbon  all  escaped  the  September  catastrophe. 
During  these  two  days  of  the  llth  and  12th  of  August  all  the 
statues  of  the  kings  were  thrown  down  by  the  Paris  populace ;  even 
the  statue  of  Henry  IV.,  whose  memory  still  remained  so  popular 
in  1789,  did  not  escape.  This  fury  against  kings  embraced  all  the 
past,  and  the  emblems  of  royalty  were  everywhere  effaced.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  the  commune  in  its  official  correspondence  substi- 
tuted the  title  of  Citizen  for  that  of  Monsieur. 

August  12  the  commune  effected  the  arrest  of  the  proprietors 
of  counter-revolutionary  journals,  and  confiscated  their  presses,  dis- 
tributing them  among  Jacobin  printers.  Marat  had  before  this 
laid  his  hands  upon  part  of  the  types  in  the  royal  printing-office. 
The  commune  also  closed  the  barriers,  suspended  passports,  and 
arrested  a  number  of  suspected  individuals. 

The  men  who  had  usurped  the  municipal  power  at  first  called 
themselves  delegates  from  the  sectional  majorities;  they  were 
doubled  by  the  new  elections,  which  increased  their  number  to 
two  hundred  and  eighty-eight;  and  as  they  were  exercising  the 


298  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XL 

authority  of  the  general  council  of  the  commune,  they  assumed  its 
name.  Among  the  newly  elected  there  was  no  celebrated  name  but 
that  of  Eobespierre ;  there  were  others  only  too  well  known  at  a 
later  day,  —  Billaud-Varennes,  Chaumette,  Pache,  etc. 

For  three  days  the  Assembly  and  the  commune  debated  as  to 
the  place  where  Louis  XVI.  should  be  detained.  The  Assembly 
wished  to  send  him  to  the  Luxembourg  palace ;  the  commune  pro- 
tested, and  the  royal  captive  was  transferred  with  his  family  to  the 
tower  of  the  Temple  prison,  an  old  fortress  where  the  Templars 
had  once  kept  those  treasures  which  so  much  excited  the  jealousy 
of  Philippe  le  Bel,  and  paved  the  way  for  their  ruin.  The  gloomy 
enclosure  of  the  Temple,  surrounded  by  high  walls,  and  situated  in 
one  of  the  poorest  quarters  of  Paris,  was  replaced  by  the  Temple  Mar- 
ket, and  subsequently  by  a  square  adorned  with  trees  and  flowers. 

This  melancholy  place  was  indeed  a  prison,  and  the  royal  family 
could  cherish  no  further  hope. 

As  upon  the  return  from  Varennes,  Potion  escorted  the  king,  but 
in  these  fourteen  months  how  deep  the  chasm  had  opened  before 
him!  Petion,  and  all  who  like  him  in  1791  sought  to  deprive  the 
king  of  his  crown,  would  have  saved  him,  while  those  who  had  at 
that  time  replaced  it  upon  his  head  had  ruined  him. 

During  the  Assembly's  sessions  of  August  15-17  papers  found 
at  the  Tuileries  were  read,  proving  that  the  king  had  continued 
to  pay  his  body-guards  after  their  emigration  to  Coblentz,  and  that 
the  counter-revolutionary  pamphlets  issued  from  Paris  and  Coblentz 
had  also  been  paid  for  from  the  civil  list.  Other  letters,  which  it 
was  judged  best  not  to  publish  immediately,  were  said  to  prove  that 
the  court  and  its  agents  corresponded  with  Austrian  generals. 

These  revelations,  confirming  the  public  accusations,  augmented 
popular  resentment  against  the  dethroned  family,  and  induced  the 
Assembly  to  bring  to  trial  the  former  ministers,  Montmorin,  Ber- 
trand  de  Molleville,  and  others,  among  whom  were  Barnave  and 
Alexandre  de  Lameth. 

Meantime  the  Assembly  was  involved  in  grave  debates  with  the 
commune.  The  Assembly  had  deprived  justices  of  the  peace  sus- 


THE  TEMPLE. 


THE  LOUVRE. 


1792.]          THE  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  COMMUNE.  299 

pected  of  "  Feuillantism  "  of  their  police  functions,  and  transferred 
them  to  the  municipalities.  This  had  pleased  the  commune,  but 
elections  had  also  been  ordered  for  the  renewal  of  the  depart- 
mental authority,  which  had  remained  disorganized  since  its  conflict 
with  the  municipality.  Robespierre,  in  the  name  of  the  commune, 
made  a  threatening  protest  against  the  restoration  of  a  power  which 
•would  control  or  counteract  the  authority  of  the  direct  delegates  of 
the  people,  and  destroy  that  unity  so  indispensable  to  the  public 
safety.  The  Assembly  yielded,  leaving  to  the  departmental  direc- 
tory only  control  of  the  taxes,  while  the  police  and  public  safety 
remained  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  commune.  The  Assem- 
bly also,  retracting  a  former  decision,  decreed  that  the  crimes  of 
the  10th  of  August  should  be  tried,  not  in  the  high  court  of  justice 
at  Orleans,  but  before  juries  elected  by  the  sections.  On  the  next 
day,  August  15,  at  Robespierre's  demand  in  the  name  of  the  com- 
mune, it  was  decreed  that  the  new  tribunal  should  judge  without 
appeal  while  retaining  the  legal  forms  which  at  that  time  intrusted 
the  preparation  of  the  indictment  to  a  jury  of  accusation,  the  trial 
of  the  crime  to  a  jury  of  trial,  and  the  fixing  of  the  punishment 
alone  to  the  judges. 

An  address  from  the  Assembly  to  the  citizens  of  Paris,  drawn  up 
by  Brissot,  declared  that  a  free  people  ought  not  to  imitate  tyrants 
in  creating  "  Star  Chambers,"  or  special  commissions.  Some  ardent 
Jacobins,  sitting  at  the  extreme  left  of  the  Assembly  above  the  Giron- 
dists, upon  elevated  benches,  which  had  won  for  them  the  name  of 
Montagnards  (Mountaineers),  like  their  colleagues,  were  indignant 
at  the  insolent  menaces  of  the  commune  during  these  discussions. 

"  They  desire  an  inquisition,"  said  the  deputy  Chodieu ;  "  I  shall 
resist  it  to  the  death." 

"I  love  liberty,  I  love  the  Revolution,"  said  Thuriot,  another 
Mountaineer,  one  of  the  conquerors  of  the  Bastille;  "but  rather 
than  resort  to  crime,  I  would  plunge  a  dagger  in  my  heart.  The 
Revolution  is  not  for  France  alone ;  we  are  accountable  for  it  to 
humanity ! " 

New  judges  and  jurors  were  chosen,  but  it  was  by  electors  of  the 


300  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XI. 

second  degree,  as  the  law  ordained.  All  formalities  were  observed, 
but  it  was  in  truth  the  victors  who  were  to  try  the  vanquished 
at  the  tribunal  of  August  17.  Robespierre  being  elected  chief 
justice  refused,  saying  that  he  could  not  become  the  judge  of  those 
whose  adversary  he  had  been.  He  chose  the  commune  rather  than 
the  tribunal  for  the  scene  of  his  triumphs. 

On  the  18th  of  August  Danton,  the  minister  of  justice,  addressed 
a  circular  to  the  tribunals,  in  which,  under  a  severe  revolutionary 
style,  could  be  perceived  an  idea  of  social  order  and  of  union  be- 
tween patriots.  "  The  goal  of  all  my  thoughts,"  said  he,  "  is  po- 
litical and  individual  liberty,  the  maintenance  of  the  laws,  the  unity 
and  splendor  of  the  state,  the  prosperity  of  the  French  people ;  not 
an  impossible  equality  of  fortune,  but  an  equality  of  rights  and  of 
happiness.  Let  us  turn  the  sword  and  the  law  against  the  enemies 
of  our  country.  Let  justice  by  the  courts  begin,  and  justice  by  the 
people  will  cease." 

These  last  words  prove  that  he  was  haunted  by  a  terrible  pre- 
sentiment. He  would  gladly  have  placed  himself  between  the 
Assembly  and  the  commune,  between  the  Gironde  party  and  the 
ardent  Jacobins,  who  were  beginning  to  be  called  the  Mountain, 
and  have  sought  to  conciliate  all  who  adhered  to  the  revolutionary 
movement  when  La  Fayette  and  the  Feuillants  abandoned  it. 

It  was  at  this  very  moment  that  La  Fayette's  shipwreck  occurred. 
The  10th  of  August  found  this  general  at  Sedan.  Political  anxieties 
had  not  caused  him  to  neglect  his  military  duties,  and  he  had  placed 
upon  the  best  footing  the  soldiers  of  his  command,  which  extended 
from  the  Meuse  to  the  sea.  The  events  of  August  10  gave  him 
terrible  anxiety.  He  had  to  choose  between  two  extreme  resolu- 
tions :  to  recognize  the  revolution  of  August  10,  and  abandon  roy- 
alty; or  to  assume  the  defensive  against  this  revolution,  and  lead 
his  army  to  Paris,  leaving  the  frontier  open  to  the  enemy. 

He  shrank  in  horror  from  the  latter  course,  and  he  could  not  de- 
cide upon  the  former.  He  did  not  receive  the  renewed  advances 
of  the  Jacobins ;  he  hoped  for  domestic  reaction,  a  coalition  of  the 
departmental  directories,  which  would  overthrow  the  new  ministry, 


1792.]  THE  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  COMMUNE.  301 

and  oblige  Paris  to  restore  to  the  king  his  constitutional  power  and 
to  the  Assembly  its  liberty. 

The  Ardennes  department  was  in  accord  with  him.  The  Sedan 
municipal  council  arrested  the  three  commissioners  sent  by  the 
Assembly  (August  14).  The  Assembly,  informed  of  this  proceed- 
ing on  the  17th,  decreed  the  immediate  arrest  of  the  Ardennes 
authorities,  and  despatched  three  new  commissioners  authorized  to 
control  the  public  authority.  La  Fayette  was  dismissed,  and  Du- 
mouriez  chosen  in  his  stead.  Roland  and  Servan,  appreciating  the 
talents  of  Dumouriez,  patriotically  forgot  their  grievances  against 
him,  and  Eoland  wrote  him  a  very  noble  letter  in  the  hope  of  rais- 
ing his  soul  to  the  level  of  the  charge  intrusted  to  his  hands. 

August  19  the  Assembly  decreed  that  La  Fayette  be  brought  to 
trial  The  illusions  of  this  unfortunate  general  were  soon  dispelled. 
The  Aisne  department,  until  now  favorable  to  him,  armed  its  national 
guards  against  him,  and  neighboring  departments  followed  its  ex- 
ample. The  forces  not  under  La  Fayette's  command  declared  for 
the  revolution  of  August  10,  and  the  movement  soon  gained  over  the 
very  regiments  which  were  with  him  and  ready  to  engage  in  battle. 

La  Fayette  knew  that  his  work  was  ended.  Doing  his  best  to 
assure  the  safety  of  his  army,  he  left  it  in  good  positions,  and,  as- 
suming the  whole  responsibility  of  the  resistance  he  had  attempted, 
he  crossed  the  frontier  with  a  few  friendly  officers  (August  19). 

He  had  hoped  to  reach  Holland,  and  to  go  thence  by  way  of  Eng- 
land to  America,  the  natural  asylum  of  the  former  lieutenant  of 
Washington  ;  but  at  Eochefort,  in  Ardennes,  upon  the  neutral  terri- 
tory of  Liege,  he  and  his  friends  were  arrested  by  an  Austrian  de- 
tachment. 

The  duke  of  Saxe-Teschen,  commander  of  the  Austrian  forces  in 
Belgium,  and  Marie  Antoinette's  brother-in-law,  sent  the  following 
message  to  La  Fayette :  — 

"  Since  the  chief  of  the  French  insurrection,  forced  to  expatriate 
himself  by  the  very  people  whom  he  has  taught  to  revolt,  has  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  allied  powers,  he  shall  be  held  a  prisoner  until 
his  sovereign  shall  have  decided  his  fate." 


302  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XI. 

La  Fayette,  having  left  the  army,  and  having  been  arrested  upon 
foreign  soil,  could  not  be  called  a  prisoner  of  war.  But  the  despots, 
concerting  together  for  the  chastisement  of  revolutionists  of  all 
countries,  had  begun  to  invent  new  laws  of  nations ;  their  treatment 
of  La  Fayette  was  the  best  proof  that  he  had  not  attempted  to  be- 
tray liberty.  He  was  immured  by  turns  in  Prussian  and  Austrian 
prisons,  where  his  courageous  wife  at  length  obtained  permission  to 
share  his  lot.  Here  for  several  years  he  suffered  all  the  indignities 
inflicted  upon  the  friends  of  liberty  by  the  emperor  Francis  II., 
a  pitiless  bigot,  who  believed  it  his  mission  to  chastise  all  such 
offenders  for  the  good  of  their  souls. 

After  La  Fayette's  departure  the  Ardennes  department  yielded ; 
opposition  to  the  results  of  the  10th  of  August  everywhere  ceased,  and 
the  old  Feuillant  or  constitutional  party  became  a  thing  of  the  past. 

The  real  danger  lay  in  the  plots  of  the  counter-revolutionists,  the 
allies  of  foreign  powers,  and  in  the  madness  of  the  ultra-revolution- 
ists, but  most  of  all  in  the  discord  among  the  enlightened  friends 
of  the  Revolution.  They  all  agreed  at  least  upon  the  national  de- 
fence, and  in  this  matter  the  Assembly  and  commune  vied  with 
each  other.  The  Assembly  reorganized  the  national  guard  of  Paris, 
and  compelled  all  armed  citizens  to  enter  its  lists.  It  took  new 
measures  for  establishing  the  camp  decreed  near  Paris,  and  placed 
in  requisition  all  foundries  and  armories,  and  all  metals  needed  for 
war  purposes  ;  it  also  ordered  the  distribution  of  guns  to  volunteers. 
The  tribune  was  encumbered  with  patriotic  gifts  ;  the  sessions  were 
in  part  occupied  with  the  reading  of  letters  in  which  citizens  offered 
their  persons  and  their  property  to  the  country.  Two  wealthy  pa- 
triots proposed  to  equip  each  a  regiment  of  volunteers. 

The  commune,  as  in  July,  opened  recruiting  offices  for  voluntary 
enrolment ;  it  sent  the  silver  plate  of  churches  to  the  mint,  had  the 
bronze  statues  of  kings  and  the  church-bells  melted  down  and  recast 
into  cannon,  leaving  only  two  bells  to  each  parish;  and  finally  it 
disarmed  those  members  of  the  national  guard  who  had  signed  the 
protest  against  the  atrocities  of  June  20,  and  gave  their  guns  to 
volunteers. 


1792.]  THE  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  COMMUNE.  303 

Paris  offered  a  heroic  and  extraordinary  aspect.  For  weeks  and 
months  it  seemed  as  if  the  famous  enrolment  day  had  come  again. 

On  the  25th  of  August  bad  news  arrived.  The  great  hostile  army 
had  attacked  Longwy,  and  the  inhabitants  of  this  strong  town  had 
induced  the  commandant  to  capitulate  against  the  wishes  of  the 
garrison.  The  National  Assembly,  upon  Vergniaud's  motion,  de- 
creed that  every  citizen  of  a  besieged  town  who  advised  surrender 
should  be  punished  with  death,  and  that,  as  soon  as  retaken,  Longwy 
should  be  demolished.  Paris  and  the  neighboring  departments  were 
ordered  by  the  Assembly  to  furnish  at  once  a  new  levy  of  thirty 
thousand  men. 

A  series  of  circulars  from  the  ministry  of  the  interior  was  sent 
everywhere,  animating  the  departmental  administrations  to  do  their 
duty.  Through  all  these  breathed  the  heroic  soul  of  Madame  Eo- 
land.  "Perils  increase,"  said  these  letters  to  the  people;  "our 
enemies  seek  to  open  for  themselves  a  route  to  Paris.  Let  iron 
everywhere  be  transformed  into  pikes  or  cast  into  bullets ;  let 
women  work  upon  the  garments  and  the  tents  of  the  defenders 
of  our  country;  let  defenders  arise  from  all  sides  and  hasten  to 
the  capital ;  let  every  village,  every  hamlet,  surround  itself  with 
moats  and  intrenchments,  and  prepare  for  resistance.  Guard  the 
river-passes,  intercept  the  bridges  and  highways ;  let  fallen  trees 
obstruct  the  forest  paths !  Eise  in  thy  strength,  in  thine  entirety, 
0  French  nation !  The  hour  of  battle  has  arrived ;  we  must  con- 
quer or  perish  ! "  (August  21  to  September  1.) 

The  Assembly  and  the  commune,  while  in  agreement  concerning 
foreign  powers,  did  not  agree  in  regard  to  internal  enemies.  The 
Girondists  desired  to  strike  the  counter-revolutionists  only  by  the 
arm  of  the  law ;  the  commune  could  tolerate  no  legal  check  upon 
its  passions  and  its  vengeance.  On  the  23d  of  August  it  boldly 
demanded  the  transfer  to  Paris  of  the  persons  sentenced  by  the 
supreme  court  of  Orleans,  that  they  might  there  suffer  the  penalty 
due  their  crimes.  "  If  you  do  not  yield  to  this  demand,"  said  the 
orator  of  the  commune  to  the  Assembly,  "  we  can  no  longer  be 
answerable  for  the  vengeance  of  the  people ! " 


304  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XI. 

Lacroix,  a  friend  of  Danton's,  presided  that  day.  He  replied  with 
dignity,  that  the  National  Assembly  should  alone  have  the  right  to 
change  the  organization  of  the  supreme  court.  "  The  people,"  added 
he,  "  can  dispose  of  our  lives ;  we  can  die  heroically  at  our  post  for 
liberty  and  equality." 

The  Assembly  passed  unanimously  to  the  order  of  the  day. 

The  commune  was  not  long  satisfied  with  the  tribunal  of  August 
17.  The  ardent  Jacobins  who  composed  this  tribunal  began  by 
condemning  several  royalist  conspirators  to  death,  but  they  had  the 
loyalty  to  acquit  the  accused,  who  were  guilty  of  no  crime  other 
than  their  unpopular  opinions.  There  was  great  exasperation  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville. 

On  the  26th  of  August  the  Assembly  decreed  that  all  priests  who 
had  refused  to  take  the  civic  oath  should  leave  France  within  fifteen 
days.  Their  cause,  closely  linked  with  that  of  the  counter-revolution, 
would  render  the  situation  of  most  of  them  intolerable.  The  out- 
break of  a  counter-revolution  in  Deux-Sevres  and  Morbihan  more 
than  ever  excited  the  people  of  Paris  against  them. 

August  28  Danton  requested  the  Assembly,  in  the  name  of  the 
ministry,  to  authorize  domiciliary  visits  in  all  the  communes  of 
France,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  quantity  of  arms,  muni- 
tions, horses,  and  carriages ;  he  asked,  also,  that  the  municipalities 
should  be  authorized  to  disarm  suspected  persons,  and  to  distribute 
their  weapons  among  the  defenders  of  the  country.  The  Assembly 
passed  this  measure,  designed  for  the  public  welfare,  but  very  dan- 
gerous on  account  of  the  abuse  which  might  be  made  of  it  by  a 
municipal  authority  like  the  Paris  commune. 

The  domiciliary  visits,  which  began  in  Paris  in  the  night  of 
August  29,  continued  until  the  evening  of  the  31st,  and,  being 
carried  out  with  much  force  and  violence  by  the  agents  of  the 
communes,  led  to  numerous  arrests  and  caused  great  terror. 

The  strife  between  the  Assembly  and  the  commune  grew  more 
violent.  On  the  28th  of  August  an  address  from  the  commune, 
posted  upon  the  walls  of  Paris,  denounced  "  the  traitors  who  plotted 
in  the  committees  of  the  Assembly."  Next  day  the  energetic  Lorn- 


1792.]  THE  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  COMMUNE.  305 

bard  section,  which  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  events  of 
August  10,  and  the  section  of  the  Halle-aux-Bles  denounced  to 
the  Assembly  the  abuses  and  usurpations  of  the  commune.  On  the 
30th  of  August  the  minister  of  the  interior  announced  that  the 
commune  had  abolished  the  committee  of  subsistence,  which  had 
formed  a  part  of  the  old  municipal  administration.  This  caused 
great  disorganization  in  the  sources  of  supply  for  Paris. 

The  extreme  Left  itself  now  accused  the  commune  of  subverting 
and  ruining  the  public  resources.  The  Assembly,  upon  Cambon's 
motion,  decided  to  represent  the  power  conferred  by  the  people 
upon  these  provisional  delegates.  Another  insolent  action  exhausted 
the  patience  of  the  Assembly :  the  commune  had  sent  its  agents  to 
surround  the  office  of  the  war  ministry,  where  a  journalist  whose 
arrest  it  sought  had  taken  refuge.  The  Assembly  ordered  new  muni- 
cipal elections  within  twenty-four  hours,  to  replace  the  "  provisional 
commune,"  instructed  delegates  from  the  commune  to  render  an 
account  of  objects  seized  in  their  domiciliary  visits,  and  enjoined 
upon  the  municipality  to  confine  itself  in  its  arrests  within  the 
limits  prescribed  by  law. 

The  commune,  for  the  first  time,  appeared  to  yield  to  the  Assem- 
bly ;  it  reinstated  the  committee  of  subsistence,  instructed  its  secre- 
tary, Tallien,  to  draw  up  an  apology  for  its  conduct,  and  implored 
Petion  to  present  this  document  in  person  to  the  Assembly.  This 
address,  read  by  Tallien  at  the  bar  of  the  Assembly,  was  full  of 
arrogant  recriminations.  President  Lacroix  answered  firmly  that 
the  provisional  commune  was  now  illegal,  and  that  Paris  ought 
not  to  set  the  example  of  investing  a  temporary  council  with  the 
power  of  rivalling  the  National  Assembly  and  dictating  to  it.  The 
Assembly  did  not  revoke  its  decree  ordering  new  elections  for  the 
commune,  whose  leaders  already  felt  their  power  escaping  from 
their  hands. 

At  the  session  of  the  commune  on  the  evening  of  September  1, 

Robespierre  read  an  address  to  the  sections,  inveighing  bitterly,  as 

Tallien  had  done,  against  the  ministers  and  against  the  Committee 

of  Twenty-One.     He  ended  by  declaring  that  he  saw  no  means  of 

20 


306  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XL 

saving  the  people  but  by  a  restoration  of  the  power  the  general 
council  had  received  from  them. 

What  was  his  idea  ?  It  surely  was  not  to  submit  peaceably  to 
the  decree  of  the  Assembly  which  had  ordered  new  elections  to  re- 
place the  commune;  his  desire  was  that  the  National  Assembly  and 
the  commune  might  disappear  at  the  same  time,  before  the  will  of 
the  "  sovereign  people."  He  doubtless  hoped  that  the  "  sovereign 
people  "  would  seek  out  Eobespierre  while  awaiting  the  opening  of 
the  Convention. 

The  sections,  summoned  by  the  Assembly's  decree  to  the  elections, 
had  cast  but  few  votes  on  the  1st  of  September.  Paris  was  wholly 
engrossed  by  the  war-news  and  the  plots  of  royalists.  The  revolts 
in  the  "West,  a  conspiracy  at  Grenoble,  cries  of  "  Long  live  the  king !" 
raised  by  groups  before  the  Temple,  the  imprudent  bravados  of  royal- 
ists in  the  Paris  prisons,  and  a  report  that  the  false  assignats  which 
infested  the  capital  and  threw  the  poor  into  despair  were  fabricated 
in  the  prisons,  combined  with  grave  war-tidings  to  agitate  the  masses 
violently. 

The  coalition  against  France  seemed  to  increase.  It  was  rumored 
that  a  Eussian  army-corps  was  marching  to  join  the  Germans.  The 
English  ambassador  had  just  left  Paris  in  consequence  of  the  sus- 
pension of  the  executive  power  to  which  he  was  accredited.  The 
English  government  still  talked  loudly  about  maintaining  its  neu- 
trality, but  its  acts  belied  its  words.  England  and  Eussia  were  the 
peril  of  to-morrow;  the  immediate  peril,  the  German  invasion,  was 
close  at  hand.  The  king  of  Prussia  was  before  Verdun,  a  weaker 
place  than  Loagwy.  If  Verdun  should  fall,  no  fortified  town 
would  be  left  to  cover  Paris.  Dumouriez  had  only  twenty-three 
thousand  men  at  Sedan,  and  Luckner  only  twenty  thousand  at 
Metz,  to  contend  against  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  of  the 
enemy,  and  it  was  very  doubtful  whether  the  two  French  generals 
would  be  reinforced  in  time.  There  was  great  anxiety  in  the  coun- 
cil of  ministers. 

Danton  desired  two  things,  at  any  price,  —  to  defend  Paris  against 
foreign  invasion,  and  to  prevent  the  quarrel  between  the  Assembly 


1792.]  THE  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  COMMUNE.  307 

and  the  commune  from  degenerating  into  an  armed  conflict,  which 
he  believed  would  be  the  ruin  of  the  Revolution.  He  induced  his 
friend  Thuriot  to  propose  a  measure  of  compromise  to  the  Assembly. 
This  was  a  great  concession.  The  Assembly  hesitated,  but  at  last 
passed  the  motion  toward  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Sunday, 
September  2. 

For  a  long  time  the  populace  had  been  in  a  fever.  The  laboring 
classes  were  without  work,  and  took  little  trouble  to  find  any; 
they  had  only  one  idea,  —  to  go  and  fight  against  foreigners  and  emi- 
grants. The  petty  bourgeoisie,  the  small  trading  class,  was  mined 
by  the  cessation  of  business,  and  exasperated  at  the  aristocrats.  The 
senseless  threats  of  the  royalist  journals,  which  talked  of  nothing 
but  galleys  and  scaffolds,  as  well  as  the  inflammatory  words  of  Marat 
and  his  rivals,  had  accustomed  the  people  to  associate  the  thought  of 
murder  with  all  political  ideas.  Latterly  Marat's  journal  had  advo- 
cated the  extermination  of  the  prisoners  of  the  10th  of  August,  and 
sanguinary  propositions  had  begun  to  be  discussed  in  some  sections. 
It  was  constantly  reiterated  that  in  marching  to  the  frontier  there 
was  no  necessity  of  leaving  enemies  behind ;  that  if  these  accom- 
plices of  foreign  powers  were  not  got  rid  of  before  the  departure 
of  the  soldiers,  they  would  massacre  the  wives  and  children  of 
patriots. 

People  in  general  foreboded  terrible  things,  and  felt  that  the 
prisons  were  menaced.  Several  influential  men  made  haste  to  pro- 
cure the  liberation  of  those  in  whom  they  were  interested.  Manuel 
obtained  the  release  of  Beaumarchais,  the  author  of  "  Figaro,"  his 
personal  enemy,  not  wishing  to  be  accused  of  having  sought  revenge, 
if  misfortune  happened  to  him.  Robespierre,  Danton,  and  Tallien, 
the  young  secretary  of  the  commune,  released  from  prison  some  priests 
who  had  formerly  been  their  instructors,  and  a  few  other  individuals. 

They  had  saved  a  few,  but  what  was  to  be  done  with  the  others, 
—  with  the  hundreds  of  suspected  persons  still  immured  in  prison  ? 
What  were  the  designs  of  the  politicians  ?  Would  the  Assembly 
have  power  to  prevent  anarchy  ?  The  Girondists  abhorred  violence 
and  cruelty,  and  they  had  a  majority  in  the  ministry ;  but  the  min- 


308  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XI. 

istry  was  reduced  to  impotence,  through  the  action  of  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  which  had  not  only  restored  to  the  commune  its  former 
privileges,  but  had  bestowed  upon  it  some  of  the  attributes  rightly 
belonging  to  the  central  power.  Even  Pe'tion,  the  mayor,  the  head 
of  the  Paris  commune,  was,  in  fact,  deprived  of  power  by  the  general 
council,  and  Santerre,  the  commander  of  the  national  guard,  obeyed 
neither  the  mayor  nor  the  minister  of  the  interior. 

The  Girondists  had  no  military  force  at  command,  and  could  do 
nothing  unless  Danton  should  lend  them  his  influence  over  the 
masses. 

But  what  course  would  Danton  take  ? 

He  felt  that  his  colleagues  distrusted  him,  and  he  wished  to  avoid 
a  conflict  among  revolutionists,  which  would  serve  the  enemies  of 
the  Eevolution.  The  fatal  words  of  Barnave  in  regard  to  the  first 
murders  of  1789  recurred  to  his  memory:  "Is  this  blood  then  so 
pure  that  we  dare  not  shed  it  ? "  And  he  forgot  the  grand  words 
of  Rousseau :  "  That  is  an  execrable  maxim  which  declares  it  allow- 
able to  sacrifice  an  innocent  man  for  the  safety  of  the  people."  He 
tried  to  persuade  himself  of  the  truth  of  his  own  saying :  "  There  is 
not  a  single  innocent  man  among  them." 

He  believed  every  act  against  the  enemies  of  the  Revolution 
justifiable,  and  he  was  soon  to  afford  a  terrible  example  of  what 
even  the  most  gifted  and  generous  man  may  become  if  he  is  gov- 
erned by  passion  rather  than  by  principle.  God  only  knew  with 
what  allies  he  was  about  to  unite,  with  what  deeds  he  was  soon  to 
be  connected ! 

For  the  moment  all  seemed  to  unite  in  behalf  of  the  imperilled 
country.  While  the  Assembly  was  discussing  Thuriot's  conciliatory 
motion,  Manuel  announced  to  the  commune  that  Verdun  was  be- 
sieged, and  obtained  from  the  general  council  a  proclamation  sum- 
moning all  citizens  to  the  Champs  de  Mars,  to  form  an  army  of  ten 
thousand  men  and  march  at  once  upon  the  enemy. 

The  general  council  gave  orders  that  the  alarm-cannon  should 
be  fired,  the  tocsin  sounded,  and  the  gdndrale  beaten  immediately, 
and  despatched  delegates  to  the  National  Assembly  to  apprise  that 
body  of  the  measures  just  adopted. 


1792.]  THE  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  COMMUNE.  309 

By  this  action  the  commune  advanced  one  step  toward  the  As- 
sembly. The  Assembly  had  no  further  thought  of  anything  but 
Verdun  and  the  invasion.  Vergniaud  congratulated  the  commune 
upon  its  energetic  resolutions,  and  invited  its  representatives  to  con- 
sult with  the  ministers  ;  then,  declaring  that  no  time  remained  for 
discussion,  he  summoned  the  people  to  the  camp  decreed,  but  not 
yet  formed,  near  Paris. 

Danton  spoke  after  Vergniaud.  •"  Let  him  be  punished  with  death 
who  shall  refuse  to  serve  in  person  or  to  give  up  his  arms  for 
the  use  of  others !  The  alarm-bell  is  about  to  give  the  signal  to 
charge  on  the  country's  foes !  To  conquer  them  needs  boldness, 
—  again,  boldness,  —  always  boldness,  —  and  France  is  saved  ! " 

Lacroix,  a  friend  of  Danton's,  demanded  a  decree  of  death  against 
those  who  should  refuse  obedience  to  the  executive  power,  or  in  any 
way  embarrass  its  action.  If  this  motion  had  been  presented  the 
day  before  by  the  two  heads  of  the  ministry,  Danton  and  Roland, 
united,  it  might  have  saved  all;  but  it  came  too  late.  Eoland 
was  absent,  and  Danton  had  decided  upon  his  course. 

The  Assembly  referred  these  motions  to  the  Committee  of  Twenty- 
One,  to  be  acted  on  by  six  o'clock.  It  was  now  two  in  the  afternoon. 
Danton  proceeded  to  the  Champs  de  Mars,  to  incite  the  people  to 
a  general  insurrection  and  a  march  to  the  frontier.  The  thunders 
of  his  voice  rose  above  the  alarm-bell  and  the  cannon  which  were 
resounding  through  Paris. 

The  commune  had  just  closed  the  barriers  and  raised  the  black 
flag  upon  the  Hotel  de  Ville ;  the  volunteers  defiled  before  the  bar 
of  the  Assembly.  A  report  of  the  capture  of  Verdun  greatly  in- 
creased the  popular  excitement ;  the  enlistments,  latterly  from  fifteen 
hundred  to  two  thousand  per  day,  doubled  on  the  2d  of  September. 
At  two  o'clock  Paris  presented  a  sublime  spectacle ;  an  hour  after  it 
was  a  scene  of  horror. 

The  conspiracy  which  resulted  in  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholo- 
mew is  known  to  its  minutest  details ;  this  is  not  the  case  in  regard 
to  the  September  massacres ;  it  remains  to-day  a  question  whether 
they  were  concerted  in  advance.  The  commune  had  given  itself  a 


310  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XI. 

sort  of  executive  power  under  the  name  of  the  Committee  of  Surveil- 
lance, which  annulled  the  mayor's  authority.  Panis,  its  leader,  a 
lawyer  devoid  of  talent,  a  follower  of  Marat,  and  a  seditious,  danger- 
ous man,  obtained  leave  from  the  commune  to  complete  his  com- 
mittee by  the  addition  of  three  new  members.  He  added  six,  three 
of  whom  did  not  belong  to  the  commune,  and  one  of  the  three  was 
Marat. 

This  happened  on  the  morning  of  September  2,  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  as  to  the  existence  of  a  fixed  plan  from  that  moment.  The 
Committee  of  Surveillance  was  in  league  with  the  worst  members  of 
the  commune,  and  had  placed  itself  in  communication  with  some 
of  the  sections  in  which  extreme  measures  were  introduced.  The 
Poissonniere  section  voted  that  "  all  the  conspirators  "  immured  in 
the  Paris  prisons  should  be  put  to  death  before  the  departure  of  the 
soldiers  for  the  frontier ;  the  Louvre  and  Luxembourg  took  the  same 
action.  Two  sections  voted  that  they  should  be  compelled  to  march 
with  the  Parisian  volunteers  against  the  enemy. 

Between  two  and  three  o'clock  a  detachment  of  Avignon  and 
Marseilles  patriots  came  to  the  mayoralty  (now  the  prefecture  of 
police),  in  search  of  twenty  refractory  priests,  to  transfer  them  to  the 
Abbaye  prison.  They  were,  it  is  supposed,  sent  by  the  Committee  of 
Surveillance,  which  held  its  sessions  near  by.  The  mob  railed  at  the 
prisoners,  but  did  not  molest  them.  The  men  composing  the  escort 
began  to  thrust  pikes  and  sabres  into  the  coaches  where  they  were 
seated  ;  a  prisoner,  becoming  exasperated,  struck  with  a  cane  at 
one  of  the  escort,  who  immediately  ran  a  sabre  through  his  body. 
This  was  the  signal  for  a  general  massacre.  Upon  entering  the 
Abbaye  court  the  prisoners  were  murdered  either  in  the  carriages 
or  as  they  tried  to  escape  from  them.  Three  or  four  priests  took 
refuge  in  the  committee-room  of  the  Quatre-Nations  section.  They 
were  pursued,  and  one  of  them  was  recognized  by  a  member  of  the 
committee,  the  Abbe  Sicard,  a  man  most  useful  to  his  country,  and 
the  successor  of  the  illustrious  Abbe  de  1'Ep^e  in  that  beneficent  art 
which  restores  to  society  deaf  and  dumb  unfortunates.  "  To  reach 
my  friend,  you  must  pass  over  my  dead  body  ! "  said  the  Abbe* 
Sicard. 


1792.]  THE  SEPTEMBER   MASSACRES.  311 

The  executioners  of  his  companions  all  rushed  to  embrace  the 
man  so  nobly  protected  by  his  friend.  The  pursuit  of  the  other 
victims  became  none  the  less  furious  ;  a  portion  of  the  mob  rushed 
from  the  Abbaye  to  the  church  of  the  Carmelites  in  the  Rue  de 
Vaugirard.  Here  were  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  ecclesi- 
astics, among  them  the  archbishop  of  Aries  and  the  bishops  of 
Saintes  and  Beauvais.  The  Assembly  had  ordered  that  passports 
should  be  given  to  the  refractory  priests  it  had  banished,  but  the 
Surveillance  Committee  had  caused  these  priests  to  be  taken  one 
after  another  to  the  Carmelites  and  to  the  Saint-Firmin  seminary, 
under  pretence  of  erelong  conveying  them  all  in  a  body  to  the 
frontier.  The  archbishop  of  Aries  was  especially  hated  because 
his  city  had  been  the  focus  of  the  counter-revolutionary  party  in 
Provence.  The  three  prelates  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  priests 
were  all  shot  or  sabred  in  the  garden  of  the  Carmelites.  They 
might  have  escaped  by  taking  the  civic  oath,  but  all  refused.  The 
presence  of  their  bishops  inspired  the  priests,  and  confirmed  them 
in  their  resolution.  A  sense  of  honor  sustained  those  whose  faith 
would  not  have  nerved  them  for  so  terrible  a  doom. 

Hitherto  this  quarrel  in  regard  to  the  constitutional  oath  of  the 
clergy  had  seemed  only  a  political  intrigue ;  but  after  the  Carmelite 
victims  had  died  rather  than  take  the  oath,  many  people  throughout 
France  and  Europe  beheld  only  martyrs  in  these  supposed  intriguers. 
A  cause  for  which  men  die  wins  respect  and  erelong  sympathy. 
The  madmen  and  fools  who  murdered  these  priests  were  working 
for  the  counter-revolution.  They  gave  it  a  moral  elevation ;  thanks 
to  them,  it  had  its  martyrs  in  Paris,  and  was  soon  to  have  its  heroes 
in  La  Vendee. 

No  public  authority  had  appeared.  Eoland,  minister  of  the  inte- 
rior, at  the  first  menacing  symptoms,  had  written  to  the  mayor  and 
the  commander  of  the  national  guard ;  but  Santerre  would  not  move  : 
he  remained  keeping  watch  over  the  Temple  prison.  Meantime 
the  Surveillance  Committee  had  posted  up  a  proclamation  accusing 
the  ministry  of  treason.  Upon  reading  this  document  the  section 
of  L'lle  Saint-Louis  sent  a  deputation  to  the  Assembly,  asking  if 


312  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XL 

it  was  true,  as  the  commune  pretended,  that  the  ministry  had  lost 
the  confidence  of  the  nation.  The  indignant  Assembly  replied 
unanimously,  "  No  !  No  ! "  The  Surveillance  Committee  dared  not 
execute  the  orders  of  arrest  issued  against  Eoland,  Brissot,  and  sev- 
eral of  the  Girondists. 

What  would  the  commune  now  do  ?  At  the  first  tidings  of  the 
massacre  it  appointed  commissioners  to  protect  the  prisoners  for 
debt  and  other  civil  offences;  this  was  abandoning  the  political 
prisoners  to  their  fate.  Somewhat  later  the  commune  despatched 
two  other  delegates  to  the  Abbaye,  with  instructions  to  watch  over 
the  safety  of  the  prisoners.  One  of  the  two  returned,  saying  that 
the  enlisted  citizens,  fearful  of  leaving  the  city  in  the  hands  of  ill- 
disposed  individuals,  were  unwilling  to  depart  until  all  the  scoundrels 
of  the  10th  of  August  were  exterminated.  The  massacres  at  the 
Abbaye  had  begun  again.  The  commune  despatched  emissaries  to 
the  National  Assembly  to  inquire  what  measures  should  be  taken 
to  insure  the  safety  of  the  prisoners.  The  commune  had  more 
means  at  its  command  for  their  safety  than  the  Assembly,  but  the 
only  thing  it  did  was  to  forbid  any  one  to  leave  Paris  by  the  river, 
thus  shutting  off  almost  the  only  avenue  by  which  the  victims  could 
possibly  escape. 

Billaud-Varennes  informed  the  commune  of  a  conspiracy  by  a 
powerful  party  to  make  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  king  in  place 
of  Louis  XVI.  Eobespierre  sustained  Varennes,  inculpating  the 
Girondists  and  denouncing  Brissot  by  name.  The  Surveillance  Com- 
mittee, paying  no  respect  to  the  rights  of  the  nation's  representatives, 
early  the  next  morning  caused  Brissot's  house  to  be  searched ;  it  is 
needless  to  say  that  nothing  was  found.  They  dared  not  arrest  him. 

The  National  Assembly,  informed  of  the  massacre  at  the  Car- 
melites when  it  had  ended,  sent  delegates  to  the  Abbaye,  where 
they  came  upon  scenes  whose  horrors  were  redoubled  by  the 
darkness  of  the  night.  Prisoners  of  all  conditions  had  been  mas- 
sacred, —  officers  and  their  lieutenants,  Swiss,  constitutional  guards 
of  the  king,  priests  and  laymen.  No  attention  was  paid  to  the 
voice  of  the  representatives  of  the  people. 


1792.]  THE  SEPTEMBER  MASSACRES.  313 

Manuel,  who  had  just  saved  Madame  de  Stae'l  when  arrested  in 
the  streets,  was  no  more  heeded  than  the  deputies,  although  he 
•went  no  further  than  to  implore  the  murderers  not  to  kill  the 
innocent  and  the  guilty  at  random.  Finally  a  decree  from  the 
Committee  of  Surveillance,  signed  by  Panis  and  Sergent,  his  deputy, 
was  better  received :  it  ordered  the  trial  of  all  the  Abbaye  prisoners. 

The  committee,  at  rather  a  late  hour,  decided  to  conduct  its 
slaughter  in  a  more  orderly  manner.  The  murderers  chose  Mail- 
lard  president  by  acclamation.  Maillard  was  the  man  who  had  led 
the  women  to  Versailles  on  the  5th  of  October.  He  selected  twelve 
judges  from  the  people  of  the  quarter,  and  set  up  his  strange  tri- 
bunal The  prisoners  who  were  left  after  the  extermination  of  the 
Swiss,  the  king's  guards,  and  the  fabricators  of  the  false  assignats 
regained  a  chance  of  safety.  There  were  henceforth  more  acquittals 
than  condemnations.  Forty-three  of  the  unfortunates  were  saved. 
The  very  cut-throats  who  had  flung  themselves  like  ferocious  beasts 
upon  the  condemned  led  the  acquitted  back  to  their  families  with 
demonstrations  of  joy,  and  refused  to  accept  any  token  of  their 
gratitude. 

They  did  not,  in  like  manner,  refuse  the  bloody  wages  that 
Billaud-Varennes  offered  them,  with  congratulations  upon  having 
done  their  work  so  well.  "  You  have  exterminated  these  wretches," 
he  said;  "you  have  saved  your  country;  the  municipality  is  at 
a  loss  how  to  discharge  its  debt  of  gratitude  toward  you.  I  am 
authorized  to  offer  each  of  you  twenty-four  francs,  which  shall  be 
instantly  paid.  Be  noble,  grand,  and  generous,  worthy  of  the  task 
you  have  undertaken ;  let  everything  on  this  great  day  befit  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people,  who  have  committed  their  vengeance  to 
your  hands." 

The  most  notable  of  the  Abbaye  victims  was  Montmorin,  the 
former  minister.  Among  the  acquitted,  two  old  men,  deeply  en- 
gaged in  the  counter-revolution,  and  whose  sons  were  among  the 
emigrants,  were  saved  by  their  daughters.  The  filial  devotion  of 
these  young  girls,  Mesdemoiselles  Cazotte  and  Sombreuil,  has  become 
celebrated.  The  Marseillais,  touched  by  the  heroism  of  Mademoiselle 


314  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XL 

Cazotte,  aided  her  in  wresting  her  father  from  the  judges  and  the 
executioner.  In  the  case  of  Sombreuil,  an  old  man,  the  governor 
of  the  Invalides,  the  president  of  the  tribunal,  the  terrible  Maillard 
himself,  came  to  the  aid  of  the  courageous  daughter.  "  Whether 
he  is  innocent  or  guilty,"  said  Maillard,  "  in  my  opinion  it  would 
be  unworthy  of  the  people  to  steep  their  hands  in  the  blood  of 
this  old  man."  Maillard  obtained  the  acquittal  of  another  royal- 
ist. "  We  are  here  to  judge  actions  rather  than  opinions,"  he  said. 
This  assumption  of  the  tribunal  in  styling  itself  the  organ  of  law 
and  justice  in  the  midst  of  such  atrocities  is  perhaps  the  most 
horrible  of  anything  during  these  September  days.  Political  fanati- 
cism leads  to  the  same  aberrations  as  religious  fanaticism. 

The  carnage  of  this  baleful  night  extended  from  prison  to  prison ; 
the  Chatelet  and  the  Conciergerie  were  invaded  in  their  turn.  The 
murderers  killed  others  than  counter-revolutionists,  massacring 
thieves  in  far  greater  numbers  than  political  prisoners.  The  cut- 
throats aimed  at  purging  society  in  their  own  fashion.  La  Force 
prison  was  next  assailed.  Here  were  several  ladies  of  the  court. 
All  were  liberated  save  one,  and  a  portion  of  the  men  were 
set  free  on  condition  of  enlistment  in  the  army ;  then,  as  at  the 
Abbaye,  a  tribunal  was  improvised.  Hebert,  editor  of  the  Pere 
Duchene,  and  three  or  four  other  members  of  the  commune  presided. 
The  unfortunate  individuals  brought  before  the  infamous  Hubert 
had  reason  to  regret  not  having  been  dealt  with  by  Maillard. 

The  only  lady  who  had  not  been  set  at  liberty  was  Madame  de 
Lamballe,  an  intimate  friend  of  the  queen.  She  was  bitterly  hated 
because  she  was  supposed  to  be  an  adviser  of  Marie  Antoinette, 
and  the  chief  tool  of  her  intrigues.  She  did  not  deserve  this  ha- 
tred ;  she  was  a  gentle,  timid  woman,  who  had  become  somewhat 
involved  in  politics  through  devotion  and  obedience  to  the  queen. 
Many  even  among  the  excited  populace  wished  to  save  her,  but 
Hebert  would  not  aid  them,  and  this  poor  woman,  destitute  of  the 
energy  and  the  presence  of  mind  that  characterized  Mesdemoiselles 
Cazotte  and  Sombreuil,  knew  not  how  to  defend  her  cause.  She 
could  not  make  up  her  mind  to  purchase  her  life  by  swearing  hatred 


1792.]  THE  SEPTEMBER  MASSACRES.  315 

to  the  king  and  queen  who  were  so  dear  to  her ;  and,  covering  her 
eyes  with  her  hands,  she  was  dragged  unresisting  to  her  death.  She 
was  torn  limb  from  limb,  and  her  head  was  carried  by  the  execution- 
ers before  the  windows  of  the  Temple,  that  it  might  be  seen  by 
Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette. 

The  murder  of  the  Princesse  de  Lamballe  had  taken  place  on  the 
morning  of  September  3.  On  the  same  day  the  inhuman  butchers 
put  to  death  the  thieves  at  Saint-Bernard  and  the  priests  at  Saint- 
Firmin.  Geoffrey  Saint-Hilaire,  a  young  man  destined  to  great  re- 
nown in  science,  saved  at  Saint-Firmin  the  lives  of  twelve  priests, 
some  of  whom  had  been  his  professors. 

Led  by  a  false  report  that  the  Bicetre  prisoners  had  revolted,  the 
assassins  hastened  to  that  vast  depot  of  vice  and  misery  where  were 
immured  hundreds  of  vagabonds  and  malefactors,  and  among  them 
many  young  people,  almost  children,  detained  solely  for  correction. 
They  killed  all  indiscriminately,  and  then,  mad  and  drunken  with 
blood  and  wine,  they  proceeded  to  the  Salpetriere,  where  women 
of  the  town  \^ere  incarcerated.  They  killed  some,  and  set  the  others 
at  liberty,  so  that  they  might  take  part  in  their  own  orgies.  Rob- 
bers now  mingled  with  fanatics,  and  pillage  was  added  to  murder. 

Paris  was  the  theatre  of  monstrous  and  incomprehensible  con- 
trasts ;  the  enthusiastic  volunteer  movement  went  on  side  by  side 
with  the  massacres.  The  journals,  even  the  Girondist  ones,  seemed 
paralyzed,  or  tacitly  admitted  that  a  conspiracy  in  the  prisons  had 
provoked  popular  vengeance.  Brissot  alone,  in  his  "  French  Patriot," 
remained  firm  and  dignified.  The  Assembly,  feeling  its  powerless- 
ness  on  the  morning  of  the  3d,  made  no  attempt  to  stay  the  insur- 
rection. The  assassins  numbered  only  a  few  hundreds,  but  the 
masses  seemed  to  authorize  their  horrid  work  by  looking  on  in 
silence.  Nothing  was  seen  of  the  national  guard.  Santerre,  its  com- 
mander, gave  no  orders ;  but  was  there  need  of  orders  ?  A  few  were 
cowardly,  and  the  rest  stupefied,  but  this  does  not  explain  such 
inaction.  The  truth  must  be  told :  Paris,  for  the  moment,  and  up 
to  a  certain  point,  shared  in  the  crime  of  Danton ;  like  him,  it  took 
no  part  in  the  murders,  but  it  did  not  decide  to  prevent  the  murder 


316  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XL 

of  those  it  called  its  enemies.  The  great  city  and  the  great  revolu- 
tionist were  destined  cruelly  to  expiate  this  culpable  mistake  ! 

On  the  evening  of  the  3d  the  Assembly  tried  to  resume  its  action. 
At  the  demand  of  the  ministers  it  ordered  the  municipality,  the 
general  council  of  the  commune,  and  the  commander  of  the  national 
guard  to  enforce  respect  for  the  safety  of  persons  and  property,  and 
addressed  a  proclamation  to  the  people  to  the  effect  that  liberty 
and  patriotism  no  longer  existed  where  force  usurped  the  place 
of  law. 

The  Assembly  also  sent  to  the  departments  a  letter  from  Eoland, 
in  which  the  minister  of  the  interior  protested  against  the  men  who 
spread  distrust,  sowed  denunciations,  excited  rage,  and  dictated  pro- 
scriptions. "  Yesterday  was  a  day,"  adds  the  report,  "  over  whose 
events  it  would  perhaps  be  well  to  draw  a  veil  The  populace,  terri- 
ble in  its  vengeance,  is  meting  out  a  sort  of  justice,  but  it  is  easy  for 
villains  to  abuse  this  outbreak,  and  it  has  become  the  duty  of  the 
constituted  authorities  to  end  it,  or  to  .consider  themselves  as  set  at 
naught.  I  know  that  this  declaration  exposes  me  to  the  fury  of  the 
insurrectionists.  Well !  let  them  take  my  life  if  they  will."  He 
intimated  that  if  security  and  liberty  were  not  soon  restored  in 
Paris,  the  wise  and  the  timid  would  combine  to  establish  the  Con- 
vention elsewhere. 

While  Eoland  was  declaring  that  the  carnage  must  be  stopped 
at  any  price,  Danton,  from  his  place  in  the  ministry  of  justice, 
allowed  these  fatal  words  to  escape  him  :  "  All  this  was  necessary ! " 
He  did,  or  permitted,  something  even  more  fatal.  Marat  sent  him, 
in  the  name  of  the  Committee  of  Surveillance,  a  circular  which  he 
had  probably  drawn  up  himself,  and  containing  this  passage :  "  The 
Paris  commune  hastens  to  inform  its  brethren  in  the  departments 
that  some  of  the  ferocious  conspirators  detained  in  the  prisons 
have  been  put  to  death,  —  an  act  of  justice  required  to  strike  terror 
to  the  hearts  of  traitors.  The  whole  nation  will  doubtless  hasten  to 
imitate  this  measure,  as  being  necessary  to  the  public  safety." 

Danton,  yielding  to  Marat's  solicitation,  sent  out  this  document 
under  the  approval  of  the  ministry  of  justice.  Marat's  circular  did 


1792.]  THE  SEPTEMBER  MASSACRES.  317 

not  produce  the  desired  effect ;  there  was  no  Saint  Bartholomew  in 
France ;  however,  in  some  towns  murders  were  committed,  and  the 
responsibility  falls  upon  Danton  as  well  as  upon  Marat. 

Next  day  the  Commission  of  Twenty-One,  ignorant  of  Danton's 
connivance  in  this  circular,  proposed  to  him  to  arrest  Marat;  Danton 
refused  to  sanction  this  act,  and  at  the  same  time  obliged  the  Com- 
mittee of  Surveillance  to  suppress  the  order  of  arrest  issued  by  Marat 
against  Eoland.  Even  while  clasping  the  bloody  hand  of  this  chief 
of  cut-throats,  Danton  sought  to  remain  true  to  his  system  of  pre- 
venting conflicts  among  revolutionists ;  he  would  not  see  that  he 
was  ruining  his  own  system,  and  opening  an  abyss  between  himself 
and  the  Girondists. 

As  the  horrible  details  of  the  massacre  spread  abroad,  a  reaction- 
ary movement  began  to  manifest  itself  in  Paris.  Even  in  the  Lux- 
embourg section,  recently  the  most  violent  of  all,  a  protest  was  made 
against  Eobespierre's  calumnies  of  the  Assembly.  At  the  opening 
of  the  session,  on  September  4,  the  Assembly,  in  response  to  the 
accusation  of  wishing  to  make  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  king,  swore 
hatred  to  royalty.  The  Commission  of  Twenty-One,  through  Ver- 
gniaud  its  spokesman,  declared  that  it  resigned  in  consequence  of 
the  calumnies  of  which  it  was  the  object.  The  Assembly  refused 
unanimously  to  accept  this  resignation. 

Eoland  wrote  very  harshly  to  Santerre,  holding  him  responsible 
for  all  the  recent  outrages.  Santerre  replied,  expressing  his  pro- 
found sorrow  for  the  excesses  of  the  populace;  he  then  made  a 
sentimental  address  to  the  commune,  which  had  issued  a  proclama- 
tion asserting  the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to  the  law  for  the 
punishment  of  the  guilty ;  but  he  neither  executed  the  orders  of 
Petion  nor  those  of  Eoland.  The  Temple  was  the  only  prison  ab- 
solutely guarded ;  the  king  was  looked  upon  as  a  hostage,  and  not 
even  the  commune  desired  his  death.  Although  the  great  carnage 
took  place  from  the  2d  to  the  4th  of  September,  the  murders  in 
other  prisons  did  not  entirely  cease  until  the  6th.  Pe'tion,  after 
inveighing  against  the  murderers  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  with  the 
applause  of  the  tribunes  themselves,  twice  attempted  in  person  to 


318  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XL 

drive  them  from  La  Force;  but  they  returned  immediately  after 
his  departure,  Santerre  having  sent  no  guard. 

From  the  2d  to  the  6th  of  September  more  than  thirteen  hundred 
persons  had  perished,  only  a  third  of  whom  were  political  victims ; 
the  rest  had  been  imprisoned  for  offences  against  the  common 
law. 

The  final  act  of  this  terrible  drama  was  played  outside  of  Paris. 
The  commune  had  arrogantly  demanded  of  the  Assembly  that  the 
accused  persons  awaiting  trial  before  the  supreme  court  of  Orleans 
should  appear  before  the  Paris  tribunal;  the  Assembly  having 
refused  consent,  the  commune  had  despatched  an  armed  force  to 
Orleans  under  pretext  of  preventing  a  conspiracy  for  the  deliverance 
of  the  prisoners.  Among  the  captives  were  Delessart  and  D'Aban- 
court,  placed  under  accusation  as  ministers  friendly  to  the  counter- 
revolution ;  Brissac,  a  former  commander  of  the  king's  guard ;  and 
a  number  of  officers  and  citizens  accused  of  having  endeavored  to 
summon  a  Spanish  force  to  Perpignan. 

The  Assembly  ratified  too  late  the  departure  of  the  force  sent  by 
the  commune  and  instructed  to  guard  the  prisoners  (August  26). 
On  the  evening  of  September  2,  wishing  to  save  the  Orleans  pris- 
oners, it  ordered  their  removal  to  Saumur.  The  emissaries  sent  by 
the  commune  set  out  with  their  captives  for  Paris,  and  all  that  the 
minister  of  the  interior  could  do  was  to  persuade  them  to  stop  at 
Versailles.  Nothing  was  gained  by  this  step ;  the  murderers  has- 
tened to  Versailles,  reinforced  by  the  most  bloodthirsty  part  of  the 
Parisian  populace,  and  the  escort  delivered  the  prisoners  into  their 
hands.  Forty-four  were  killed  on  the  spot  (September  9). 

Marat's  followers  gave  Danton  the  credit  of  their  work.  The 
band,  on  its  return  from  Versailles,  rushed  to  Danton's  house  and 
called  for  him  with  loud  cheers.  He  dared  not  refuse  to  appear, 
and,  trembling  at  his  own  complicity,  thus  addressed  the  assassins : 
"  It  is  not  the  minister  of  justice,  but  the  minister  of  the  Ee volu- 
tion, who  thanks  you ! "  To  separate  justice  from  the  Eevolution, 
which  in  principle  was  justice  itself,  was  to  introduce  chaos  into 
ideas  as  well  as  into  actions.  But  even  in  his  criminal  and  shame- 


1792.]  THE  SEPTEMBER  MASSACKES.  319 

ful  moments  Danton  still  clung  at  heart  to  the  same  idea.  While 
accepting  the  responsibility  which  must  remain  a  lasting  disgrace 
to  his  memory,  he  snatched  Adrien  Duport,  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent members  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  from  Marat's  hands; 
and  this  occurred  at  a  moment  when  Marat  was  more  ferocious, 
more  intoxicated  with  pride  than  ever,  he  having  just  been  elected 
deputy  to  the  Convention. 

For  this  disgrace  Paris  had  to  thank  a  rule  imposed  upon  her 
electors  by  the  commune,  under  the  influence  of  Robespierre. 
The  commune  had  prescribed  a  viva  voce  vote  of  the  sessions  of 
the  electoral  corps,  and  Robespierre  had  excluded  from  this  corps 
the  signers  to  the  petition  against  the  20th  of  June.  The  elec- 
tions of  the  first  degree  had  been  carried  on  in  the  midst  of  ter- 
rible anxieties,  and  few  had  voted;  a  violent  minority  ruled  the 
assembly  of  electors  of  the  second  degree,  which  was  held  in  the 
Jacobin  hall  under  the  pressure  of  its  tribunes.  Robespierre  was 
elected  first  of  the  twenty-four  Parisian  deputies,  Marat  the  seventh, 
Danton  and  Camille-Desmoulins  having  preceded  him.  Paris  be- 
longed to  the  extreme  Jacobins,  to  the  commune  party,  composed 
of  such  men  as  Panis,  Sergent,  Billaud-Varennes,  Tallien,  Freron, 
and  Collot  d'Herbois. 

Pillage  followed  the  Paris  massacres ;  thieves  passed  themselves 
off  for  municipal  agents,  and  rifled  people  in  broad  daylight,  under 
pretext  of  wresting  from  them  patriotic  gifts.  The  agents  of  the 
commune  committed  all  sorts  of  violence  and  depredation,  not  only 
in  Paris,  but  in  the  departments  where  the  commune  had  despatched 
emissaries  in  the  pretended  interest  of  the  public  safety. 

Authority  being  annihilated,  the  citizens,  resolved  at  last  to 
defend  themselves,  began  to  league  together  to  protect  their  lives 
and  property.  Several  sections,  that  of  the  Abbaye  at  the  head, 
gave  the  signal.  In  the  provinces  also  the  people  resisted,  and  in 
some  places  arrested  the  envoy  of  the  commune. 

The  Assembly  began  to  be  reassured  by  news  from  the  depart- 
ments where  the  elections  were  favorable  to  the  Girondists.  Roland, 
Cainbon,  and  Yergniaud  urged  vigorous  measures.  In  the  session 


320  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XL 

of  September  17  Vergniaud  was  magnificent.  He  broke  forth  in 
words  of  generous  indignation  against  the  fresh  arrests,  through 
which  the  agents  of  the  commune  seemed  preparing  for  another 
massacre.  "  It  is  time  to  break  these  shameful  fetters ! "  he  said. 
"  What  care  I  for  their  daggers  and  their  hired  assassins  ?  What 
avails  life  to  the  representatives  of  the  people  when  the  public 
safety  is  at  stake?  Let  the  National  Assembly  and  its  memory 
perish,  if  France  can  only  become  free ! " 

The  Assembly  demanded  an  account  of  the  new  warrants  of 
arrest  and  confiscation  from  the  commune  and  the  sections,  and 
decreed  death  against  any  individual  who  should  unlawfully  assume 
the  municipal  scarf.  This  measure  struck  at  the  subordinate  agents 
of  the  commune.  For  once  the  commune  yielded,  and  Petion 
gained  the  ascendency  over  Panis.  The  Assembly,  content  with  no 
half-way  measures,  ordered  the  entire  re-election  of  the  commune, 
and  the  mayor's  signature  to  all  orders  for  arrest ;  it  also  interdicted 
night-searches,  and  authorized  every  person  whose  domicile  was 
violated  to  resist  by  force. 

These  are  still  the  principles  of  French  legislation  in  the  matter 
of  individual  liberty. 

The  Assembly  made  a  final  decree,  that  in  any  town  where  the 
legislative  body  was  in  session,  whoever  sounded  the  tocsin  or  fired 
the  alarm-gun  without  its  order  should  be  put  to  death. 

The  Legislative  Assembly,  which  was  near  its  end,  was  endeavor- 
ing to  protect  the  Convention  which  was  about  to  be  born.  Upon 
this  very  day,  September  20,  the  new  representatives  of  the  people 
held  a  preliminary  session  at  the  Tuileries.  Potion  was  almost 
unanimously  elected  president ;  all  the  offices  were  given  to  the 
Girondists. 

On  the  21st  the  National  Convention  officially  announced  its 
existence  to  the  Legislative.  Assembly.  The  latter  went  to  the 
Tuileries  to  greet  its  successor ;  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  of  its 
members  resumed  their  places  in  the  new  assembly.  The  Legislative 
Assembly  had  ended  its  stormy  and  harassed  career ;  the  Convention 
was  about  to  pursue  another  career  far  more  tragic  and  terrible. 


1792.]  THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION.  321 

The  Legislative  Assembly,  in  the  midst  of  political  agitations,  had 
enacted  laws  that  will  be  forever  memorable.  It  had  prepared  the 
way  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  by  suppressing  the  premium  upon 
the  importation  of  negroes ;  it  had  liberally  encouraged  commerce 
and  discoveries  useful  to  agriculture ;  it  had  abolished  the  entail  of 
estates  and  the  right  of  primogeniture,  and  had  done  away  with  all 
inequality  between  children ;  it  had  decreed  the  construction  of  a 
canal  from  the  Rhone  to  the  Ehine ;  it  had  restored  to  the  clergy 
the  legal  verification  of  the  principal  events  of  life,  —  birth,  mar- 
riage, and  death,  —  and  had  organized  civil  government  in  the 
municipalities.  It  had  also  legalized  and  regulated  divorce. 

While  the  Tuileries  were  being  prepared  for  its  reception,  the 
Convention  installed  itself  in  the  riding-school  at  the  Feuillants', 
just  quitted  by  the  Legislative  Assembly.  At  its  first  session 
Couthon  denied  the  truth  of  the  report  that  a  party  was  forming  for 
the  creation  of  a  triumvirate,  a  dictatorship,  and  a  protectorate ;  and 
proposed  that  the  Convention  should  swear  a  like  hatred  to  royalty 
and  to  every  species  of  individual  power  opposed  to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people.  The  pretended  triumvirate,  which  caused  so  much 
alarm,  was  supposed  to  be  composed  of  Robespierre,  Danton,  and 
Marat.  Couthon  was  Robespierre's  friend,  and  spoke  indirectly  for 
him. 

Danton,  in  renouncing  his  ministerial  functions  for  those  of 
a  deputy,  treated  the  triumvirate  and  the  dictatorship  as  absurd 
phantoms,  and  declared  that  no  constitution  could  exist  other  than 
that  accepted  by  the  primary  assemblies,  the  paramount  object  be- 
ing to  insure  liberty  and  public  tranquillity.  "  Hitherto,"  said  he, 
"we  have  sought  to  arouse  the  people  against  tyrants;  now  the 
laws  must  be  as  terrible  to  those  who  attack  them  as  they  have 
been  annihilating  to  tyranny.  Let  us  declare  that  all  territorial, 
individual,  and  industrial  rights  shall  be  eternally  maintained." 

Danton  now  desired  to  restore  the  laws  whose  bloody  violation 
he  had  for  a  moment  sanctioned ;  he  would  gladly  have  united,  in 
defence  of  the  public  safety,  this  new  Assembly,  whose  members . 
regarded  him  with  distrust  and  fear.     He  wished  to  establish  the- 


322  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XI. 

new  democratic  society  upon  a  natural  and  lasting  basis ;  he  tacitly 
protested  against  the  demagogues  around  Marat,  who  were  begin- 
ning to  attack  the  principle  of  property.  He  upheld  property  from 
a  realistic  standpoint ;  Lasource,  a  Girondist,  from  a  legal  standpoint, 
observed  that  individual  property  was  prior  to  all  constitutions  and 
even  to  all  social  compacts. 

The  Convention  declared  that  no  constitution  could  be  valid 
until  it  had  been  accepted  by  the  people,  and  that  the  nation  was 
responsible  for  the  security  of  persons  and  property.  Gregoire,  con- 
stitutional bishop  of  Blois,  proposed  that  the  Convention,  by  a 
solemn  compact,  should  consecrate  the  abolition  of  royalty.  The 
whole  Assembly  rose  and  passed  the  following  decree  by  accla- 
mation :  — 

"The  National  Convention  decrees  the  abolition  of  royalty  in 
France." 

The  Convention  also  decreed  that  all  public  enactments  should 
henceforth  be  dated  from  the  year  1  of  the  FRENCH  REPUBLIC. 

The  principles  of  1789  had  reached  their  final  sequence.  Hered- 
itary power,  incompatible  with  the  inalienable  sovereignty  of  the 
nation,  disappeared  after  all  other  privileges. 

On  the  second  day  of  its  session  the  Convention  received  impor- 
tant news  from  the  scene  of  war.  The  Prussian  and  Austrian  army 
had  been  repulsed  in  a  first  general  engagement  with  the  French 
forces.  The  blood  of  Valmy  washed  out  the  blood  of  the  Abbaye 
and  La  Force,  and  a  ray  of  glory  illuminated  the  cradle  of  the 
Republic. 


1792.]  THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION.  323 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION.  —  THE  WAB  £>F  THE  REVOLUTION. — 
VALMY.  —  JEMMAPES.  —  ANNEXATION  OF  SAVOY  AND  NICE.  —  THE 
FRENCH  UPON  THE  RHINE. 

From  August  to  December,  1792. 

WE  must  now  take  a  brief  retrospect  of  the  military  events 
which  were  taking  place  simultaneously  with  the  domestic 
crises  of  the  ^Revolution. 

At  the  moment  when  La  Fayette  left  his  army  and  the  king  of 
Prussia  crossed  the  French  frontier  and  captured  Longwy,  the  situa- 
tion was  extremely  perilous.  Without  reckoning  the  corps  opposed 
to  the  forces  of  the  king  of  Sardinia  on  the  frontier  of  Savoy  and 
Var,  or  that  guarding  the  Pyrenees  against  Spain,  which,  though 
hostile,  had  not  yet  declared  war  against  France,  there  were  from 
115,000  to  120,000  men  distributed  along  the  northern  and  eastern 
frontier  from  Dunkirk  to  Huningue ;  but  these  forces  nowhere  pre- 
sented an  imposing  mass.  As  from  25,000  to  30,000  men  were 
guarding  Flanders  and  45,000  Alsace,  France  could  oppose  to  the 
grand  army  of  the  king  of  Prussia  only  23,000  men  upon  the  Meuse 
at  Sedan,  and  20,000  upon  the  Moselle  at  Metz  under  the  Alsatian 
general  Kellermann,  who  had  replaced  the  aged  Luckner.  Hosts  of 
volunteers  guarded  the  routes,  but  time  was  needed  for  consolida- 
tion and  organization. 

Dumouriez,  who  had  been  appointed  commander-in-chief  along 
the  whole  line  from  the  Moselle  to  the  sea,  at  first  persisted  in  his 
idea  of  invading  Belgium ;  but  Danton,  who  then  had  a  voice  in  all 
diplomatic  and  military  affairs,  sent  to  him  the  able  and  energetic 
Alsatian,  Westermarm,  who  urged  him  to  hasten  immediately  from' 


324  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XII. 

Flanders  to  Sedan,  in  order  to  prevent  the  disbandment  of  La  Fay- 
ette's  army,  and  to  reconnoitre  along  the  Meuse. 

Dumouriez  arrived  in  Sedan  on  the  28th  of  August,  and  his 
presence  gave  new  courage  to  the  soldiers,  who  had  become  greatly 
demoralized  by  La  Fayette's  departure.  Eecent  movements  of  the 
enemy  having  caused  Dumouriez  to  abandon  all  idea  of  invading 
Belgium,  he  resolved  to  occupy  the  Argonne  forest,  —  a  great  nat- 
ural fortress,  furrowed  by  water-courses,  intersected  by  defiles,  and 
full  of  quagmires,  —  a  forest  extending  thirteen  or  fourteen  leagues 
from  north  to  south  between  the  Meuse  and  the  Aisne,  and  guard- 
ing the  entrance  to  Champagne.  After  the  fall  of  Verdun  there 
was  no  fortified  town  upon  the  route  to  Paris,  but  this  forest  was 
a  stronghold  of  great  importance. 

The  enemy's  forces,  being  nearest  Argonne,  could  easily  have 
reached  it,  but  the  Prussians  hastened  on  to  Varennes,  and  an 
Austrian  corps  took  possession  of  Stenai,  a  position  intersecting 
the  route  to  Argonne. 

September  1  the  Prussians  attacked  Verdun;  having  no  heavy 
artillery,  they  could  not  make  a  breach,  but  they  set  fire  to  the 
town  with  small-shot.  There  was  in  Verdun  a  counter-revolution- 
ary party  in  favor  of  capitulation.  The  administrative  and  judi- 
ciary corps,  supported  by  the  clamors  of  a  band  of  women  and 
children,  also  urged  the  council  of  war  to  capitulate.  The  garrison 
was  only  three  thousand  men,  mostly  new  recruits.  The  majority 
of  the  council  voted  for  surrender,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  Beau- 
repaire,  the  commandant  of  the  place. 

Consent  was  at  last  wrung  from  him  on  condition  that  the  gar- 
rison should  be  allowed  to  leave  with  the  cannons,  but  he  could  not 
bring  himself  to  submit  this  proposition  to  the  enemy.  He  visited 
the  fortifications  once  more,  and  found  them  in  the  worst  possible 
state ;  the  chief  engineer  was  a  traitor !  Beaurepaire  had  sent  word 
to  the  Convention  that  he  would  surrender  the  place  to  death 
only.  He  kept  his  word ;  returning  to  his  quarters,  he  blew  out 
his  brains. 

The  council  of  defence  sent  the  youngest  of  the  superior  officers 


1792.]  THE  WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  325 

to  propose  a  capitulation  to  the  king  of  Prussia ;  this  young  man, 
who  was  violently  opposed  to  surrender,  wept  for  rage. 

He  afterwards  became  the  famous  general  Marceau.  The  volun- 
teers who  evacuated  Verdun  against  their  will  cried  to  the  Prus- 
sians, "We  shall  meet  you  again  in  Champagne!"  The  counter- 
revolutionists  meantime  presented  a  congratulatory  address  to  the 
king  of  Prussia,  while  their  wives  and  daughters  carried  flowers  and 
dainties  to  his  camp. 

The  enemy  having  been  driven  from  Verdun,  the  National  Con- 
vention ordered  the  remains  of  the  courageous  Beaurepaire  to  be 
transported  to  the  Pantheon.  The  cities  and  villages  rose  along  the 
road ;  all  turned  out  en  masse  to  do  honor  to  the  hero. 

While  the  people  were  rendering  funeral  honors  to  the  soldier 
who  had  preferred  death  to  surrender,  those  who  had  surrendered 
the  town  and  temporarily  restored  the  Ancient  Regime  were  brought 
to  trial.  Thirty-three  were  condemned  to  death.  Unhappily,  the 
two  most  guilty  ones  had  escaped ;  the  chief  engineer  and  the  com- 
missary had  gone  over  to  the  Prussians.  Some  of  the  condemned 
had  been  more  weak  than  criminal,  and  it  was  barbarity  to  include 
in  this  sentence  twelve  women  of  Verdun,  five  of  whom  were  only 
from  twenty-two  to  twenty-six  years  of  age. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  fall  of  Verdun  and  to  the  relative  posi- 
tion of  the  two  armies  at  the  time  of  its  fall.  The  king  of  Prus- 
sia, with  sixty  thousand  men  at  his  immediate  disposal,  in  taking 
Verdun  might  also  have  occupied  the  Argonne  forest ;  he  failed  to 
do  this.  Dumouriez,  on  the  contrary,  his  plan  once  formed,  dis- 
played wonderful  activity.  He  hurled  his  vanguard  against  the 
Austrian  corps  at  Sternai  on  the  Meuse;  Clairfayt,  the  Austrian 
general,  did  not  try  to  hold  this  town,  but  took  a  defensive  position 
in  the  rear  (August  31).  Dumouriez,  overjoyed  at  seeing  his  route 
clear,  proceeded  by  forced  marches  to  the  Argonne  forest,  and  from 
the  3d  to  the  7th  of  September  took  possession  of  its  four  chief 
passes.  Here  he  received  a  first  reinforcement  of  six  thousand 
men  from  the  army  of  Flanders. 

The  Prussian  army  did  not  appear  until  the  8th,  and  was  not 


326  THE  FEENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XII. 

entirely  massed  before  the  French  positions  until  the  10th.  This 
delay  was  caused  by  dissensions  between  the  king,  who  wished  to 
march  directly  upon  Paris,  and  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  who  had 
no  confidence  in  such  a  movement,  and  who  wished  to  limit  his 
efforts  to  the  capture  of  frontier  places.  The  hostility  of  the  peas- 
ants in  the  communes  which  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Prus- 
sians greatly  retarded  the  progress  of  their  army.  Brunswick 
prevailed  upon  the  king  to  abandon  all  idea  of  advancing  until 
reinforced.  A  corps  of  soldiers  recalled  from  the  unsuccessful  siege 
of  Thionville  and  a  Hessian  corps  at  length  raising  the  efficient 
royal  force  to  upwards  of  eighty  thousand  men,  the  enemy  resumed 
the  offensive. 

Through  his  own  fault  Dumouriez  lost  the  benefit  of  his  celerity 
and  his  advantageous  position.  He  had  too  weakly  fortified  the 
Croix-aux-Bois,  one  of  the  four  Argonne  passes,  and  had  not  assured 
himself  that  the  officer  posted  there  had  constructed  the  necessary 
defensive  works.  Clairfayt,  forewarned  that  the  Croix-aux-Bois 
was  badly  guarded,  attacked  and  forced  this  pass  on  the  13th  of 
September ;  it  was  retaken  and  again  lost  on  the  15th.  The  loss 
of  the  Croix-aux-Bois  involved  that  of  the  Chene-Populeux,  an- 
other pass  farther  to  the  north.  The  French  corps  defending  the 
Chene-Populeux,  menaced  by  another  blow,  fell  back  on  Chalons. 

Dumouriez  feared  at  first  that  his  own  camp  at  Grand-Pre  might 
be  turned  by  Clairfayt  and  assailed  in  front  by  the  king  of  Prussia, 
but  happily  for  him  the  foe  did  not  move  quickly  enough,  and 
time  was  left  him  to  repair  his  error  and  the  recent  disaster.  He 
decided  not  to  leave  his  position  on  the  banks  of  the  Aisne  nor  on 
the  borders  of  the  forest,  but  to  post  himself  at  Sainte-Menehould, 
and  there  form  a  rendezvous  for  the  different  corps  which  had 
just  been  cut  off  from  his  army  and  were  now  on  the  march  to 
rejoin  it. 

He  left  by  night,  and  crossed  the  Aisne.  In  the  morning,  at  the 
very  moment  when  he  believed  himself  beyond  attack,  his  rear- 
guard was  suddenly  assailed  by  the  enemy,  and  a  large  portion  of 
his  army,  panic-stricken  at  seeing  the  attack  from  a  distance,  dis- 


1792.]  VALMY.  327 

banded.  The  light  cavalry  only  was  engaged;  the  rear-guard 
remained  firm  and  repulsed  the  enemy. 

On  the  next  day  (September  17)  the  entire  army  encamped  near 
Sainte-Menehould  upon  a  height  protected  by  the  Aisne,  by  three 
small  rivers,  and  by  marshes.  In  the  rear  lay  the  Argonne  forest, 
its  southern  passes,  the  Chalade  and  the  Islettes,  still  remaining  in 
possession  of  a  French  corps. 

The  hostile  army,  after  crossing  the  Argonne  forest  to  Croix- 
aux-Bois  and  Grand-Pre",  on  the  19th  deployed  upon  the  heights 
opposite  Sainte-Menehould  on  the  Champagne  side,  cutting  off  the 
Chalons  route  from  the  French;  but  the  same  day  ten  thousand 
good  soldiers  arrived  from  Flanders  by  the  Rethel  route,  and  seven 
battalions  of  volunteers  rejoined  Dumouriez.  The  next  morning 
General  Kellermann  also  arrived  by  the  way  of  Vitri  with  fifteen 
thousand  picked  men,  and  posted  himself  in  front  of  the  camp  of 
Dumouriez  upon  the  Valrny  heights. 

Kellermann's  position  was  strong,  but  retreat  was  impossible; 
dislodged  from  the  Valmy  cliff,  he  would  have  been  hurled  into 
the  marsh  and  his  army  would  have  perished.  Once  intrenched  at 
Valmy,  he  must  conquer  or  die.  Dumouriez  brought  up  his  forces 
to  the  right  and  left  of  Kellermann,  but  this  support  could  avail 
him  little ;  all  must  be  decided  at  Valmy. 

The  enemy  had  more  than  eighty  thousand  trained  soldiers,  the 
French  only  sixty  thousand  men,  partly  volunteers  and  new  recruits. 
The  king  of  Prussia  decided  upon  attack ;  the  panic  of  the  16th  had 
confirmed  his  opinion  that  this  "  undisciplined  Jacobin  rabble,"  as  he 
called  it,  could  not  hold  out  before  the  veteran  army  of  Frederick 
the  Great.  The  enemy  began  to  be  astonished  at  seeing  Keller- 
mann's soldiers,  massed  around  the  mill  of  Valmy,  sustain  unmoved 
for  three  hours  the  fire  of  sixty  cannon.  At  about  ten  in  the 
morning  the  Prussian  small-shot  blew  up  two  French  caissons,  and 
Kellermann,  hit  by  a  bullet,  fell  under  his  horse.  The  French 
ranks  were  thrown  into  disorder.  The  Prussians,  seeing  the  French 
infantry  about  to  give  way,  formed  three  attacking  columns  and 
rushed  toward  the  Valmy  heights. 


328  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XII. 

But  Kellermann,  quickly  recovering  from  his  slight  mishap,  re- 
stored order  to  his  battalions.  "  Do  not  fire,"  was  the  command 
that  ran  along  his  line ;  "  await  the  enemy,  and  charge  with  the 
bayonet!"  Then  waving  his  hat  with  its  fluttering  tricolored 
plume,  Kellermann  cried,  "Vive  la  Nation! "  The  cry  was  repeated 
by  a  chorus  of  fifteen  thousand  voices. 

Brunswick  hesitated,  then  paused,  and  ordered  his  columns  to 
fall  back.  More  enlightened  than  those  around  him,  he  knew  what 
a  terrible  moral  force  revolutionary  enthusiasm  might  oppose  to  the 
mechanical  force  of  Prussian  discipline. 

At  noon  the  cannonade  began  anew.  The  excellent  French  artil- 
lery gave  back  shot  for  shot.  Towards  five  in  the  afternoon  the 
king  of  Prussia,  humiliated  and  exasperated,  beat  a  new  charge,  and 
pushed  his  infantry  upon  Valmy.  The  attack  was  received  with 
shouts  of  joy  from  the  summit  of  the  hill,  and  a  flank  fire  from 
Dumouriez's  forces  struck  terror  into  the  Prussian  columns.  The 
king  of  Prussia  abandoned  the  attack  and  returned  to  his  positions. 
Kellermann's  daring  had  proved  successful,  and  the  heir  of  Frederick 
the  Great  recoiled  before  an  Alsatian  soldier. 

The  Valmy  cannonade  had  cost  each  of  the  two  armies  only  a  few 
hundred  men;  but  this  engagement,  from  its  results,  deserves  a 
record  in  history  equal  to  that  of  the  greatest  battles. 

At  the  bivouac,  that  evening,  the  greatest  poet  and  one  of  the 
greatest  philosophers  of  Germany,  Goethe  himself,  made  a  remark 
full  of  significance  to  some  German  officers :  "  To-day  a  new  era 
has  begun  for  the  world,  and  we  may  say  that  we  have  witnessed 
its  dawning."  The  poet  spoke  truly;  this  new  era  will  be  ended  by 
no  temporary  defeat  of  the  Eevolution ;  it  will  continue  its  course 
unless  France  shall  voluntarily  renounce  the  work  God  has  confided 
to  her. 

After  Valmy  the  two  armies  remained  for  some  days  face  to  face, 
but  there  were  no  new  engagements.  The  importance  of  the  battle 
of  Valmy  was  not  at  once  comprehended  in  Paris,  where  great 
anxiety  was  felt  because  the  enemy  was  between  the  capital  and 
the  French  army;  the  people  did  not  consider  that  in  this  very 


1792.]  VALMY.  329 

position  lay  the  danger  of  the  Prussians,  who  were,  in  fact,  far 
more  disquieted  than  the  Parisians.  The  situation  of  the  German 
army  was  deplorable.  Encamped  upon  the  marshy  soil  of  the 
Champagne  Pouilleuse,  which  furnished  them  neither  forage  nor 
provisions,  obliged  to  depend  upon  provision-trains  that  were  often 
intercepted  by  the  French,  they  were  dejected  and  demoralized  by 
privation  and  sickness,  while  the  gayety  and  confidence  of  the 
French  soldiers  increased  day  by  day. 

Dumouriez,  while  holding  firmly  to  his  position,  entered  into 
negotiations  with  the  enemy.  He  had  a  twofold  aim:  to  gain  a 
few  days  until  his  army  should  be  reinforced  to  eighty  thousand 
men,  and  also  to  endeavor  to  separate  Prussia  from  Austria,  and 
persuade  her  to  a  separate  peace,  perhaps  even  to  an  alliance.  This 
had  been  the  idea  of  Narbomie  and  of  La  Fayette's  party,  and  was 
still  that  of  Danton  and  Brissot.  It  was  what  we  may  call  the 
illusion  of  the  Eevolution,  which,  seeing  in  Prussia  a  new  power  like 
itself,  dreamed  of  forming  an  alliance  with  her  against  old  Austria 
and  Europe. 

This  attempt  at  negotiation  was  warmly  seconded  by  Brunswick, 
whose  paramount  idea  was  to  rescue  the  German  army  from  the 
consequences  of  the  unfortunate  step  it  had  taken.  The  king  of 
Prussia  favored  the  project  because  he  began  to  fear  that  he  might 
lose  in  France  the  chances  held  out  to  his  ambition  in  Poland.  The 
affair  was  conducted  by  Westerrnann,  Danton's  confidant.  Two 
days  after  Valmy  a  suspension  of  hostilities  in  the  van  of  the  two 
armies  was  agreed  upon ;  but  hostilities  were  to  continue  at  other 
points,  as  the  French  refused  to  include  in  their  negotiations  "  the 
rebels  "  and  the  emigrants.  The  Prussians  yielded.  This  was  a 
very  great  concession  after  Brunswick's  manifesto ! 

The  king  of  Prussia  would  not  abandon  Louis  XVI.  as  he  had 
abandoned  the  emigrants ;  first  of  all,  he  demanded  the  liberation 
of  the  Temple  prisoners  and  the  restoration  of  Louis  XVI.  Du- 
mouriez replied  by  informing  him  that  the  National  Convention 
had  proclaimed  the  Republic  on  the  21st  of  September,  and  the 
council  of  ministers  published  a  declaration  that  France  would 


330  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XII. 

make  no  treaty  until  the  enemy  should  have  evacuated  her  terri- 
tory; the  council,  nevertheless,  secretly  authorized  Westermann  and 
another  agent  to  continue  the  parleys.  The  fickle  king  of  Prussia 
had  meantime  changed  his  mind.  Exasperated  by  the  proclamation 
of  the  Eepublic,  he  obliged  Brunswick  to  issue  a  second  manifesto 
almost  as  arrogant  as  the  famous  Coblentz  proclamation.  Dumou- 
riez,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  his  soldiers,  was  obliged  to  break 
the  truce. 

The  king  of  Prussia  announced  his  determination  to  give  battle 
the  next  day.  The  attack  could  result  only  in  disaster  to  his  army, 
and  the  Prussian  generals  united  with  Brunswick  in  urging  the 
king  to  renounce  the  idea.  News  that  England  and  Holland  reiter- 
ated their  refusal  to  enter  the  coalition  disheartened  the  Prussians, 
but  at  this  very  moment,  opportunely  for  them  and  unfortunately 
for  France,  Westermann  returned  from  Paris  with  secret  instruc- 
tions to  negotiate. 

On  the  29th  of  September  Dumouriez  wrote  to  Lebrun,  the 
minister  of  foreign  affairs,  that  he  did  not  now  believe  the  king  of 
Prussia  would  abandon  the  Austrians,  but  that  a  general  peace,  con- 
cluded upon  honorable  conditions,  seemed  to  him  preferable  to  the 
dangers  of  a  long  war.  Supposing  this  general  peace  attainable,  it 
would  have  required  very  complicated  negotiations,  and  it  was  im- 
possible to  secure  it  immediately.  To  allow  the  Prussian  army  to 
escape  without  guaranties  was  a  prodigious  blunder.  This  blunder 
was  made.  The  Prussians  gave  Westermann  new  hopes  of  peace, 
and  Dumouriez,  by  a  tacit  agreement,  allowed  their  army  to  recross 
the  Argonne  defiles  early  in  October.  The  French  generals  only 
pretended  to  pursue  the  Prussians,  who  retired  slowly,  leaving 
their  pathway  strewn  with  men  and  horses  who  had  fallen  victims 
to  want  and  disease.  The  French  soldiers  attacked  only  the  emi- 
grant corps,  but  the  peasants  harassed  the  retreating  army,  and 
killed  all  who  strayed  from  the  ranks. 

The  German  army  was  thus  saved  from  inevitable  ruin  by  the 
political  dreams  of  Dumouriez.  Scarcely  was  the  enemy  beyond 
reach  of  danger,  when  Dumouriez  saw  that  he  had  been  deceived ; 


1792.]  THE  WAR  IN  BELGIUM.  331 

the  king  of  Prussia,  once  in  safety  on  the  banks  of  the  Meuse, 
would  no  longer  listen  to  separation  from  Austria.  The  king  and 
Brunswick  agreed  to  sustain  themselves  on  the  Meuse,  to  keep  all 
they  had  won  from  the  French,  and  to  try  to  wrest  from  them 
Sedan  and  Thionville.  They  abandoned  this  idea  only  through  the 
recall  of  the  Austrian  corps  of  the  allied  army  by  the  Austrian 
government  of  Belgium  to  aid  in  an  attack  upon  Lisle,  and  also 
through  the  menacing  news  that  came  from  the  banks  of  the  Ehine. 
The  French  had  entered  the  Ehenish  provinces  by  the  way  of 
Alsace.  The  Prussians  evacuated  Verdun  on  the  13th  of  October 
in  the  greatest  disorder,  and  Longwy  on  the  22d. 

Dumouriez  might  still  have  repaired  his  error;  he  might  have 
detached  a  few  troops  to  succor  Lisle,  pursued  with  the  main  body 
of  his  constantly  increasing  army  the  Prussians,  who  grew  weaker 
in  proportion  as  the  French  were  reinforced,  and  obtained  an  order 
from  the  ministry  for  the  forces  in  Alsace  to  descend  the  Rhine  and 
take  the  enemy  in  the  rear.  The  Prussian  army  once  overthrown, 
Austrian  Belgium  would  have  speedily  fallen,  and  France  would 
have  extended  to  the  Ehine. 

Dumouriez  failed  to  adopt  this  admirable  plan,  and  returned  to 
his  favorite  idea  of  attacking  Belgium  in  front.  Leaving  a  portion 
of  his  army  to  drive  the  Prussians  from  the  frontier,  and  ordering 
the  rest  to  march  toward  Flanders,  he  went  to  Paris  with  a  view 
to  intervene  between  the  parties  which  divided  the  new  National 
Assembly,  and  to  secure  his  appointment  as  generalissimo  of  all 
the  French  armies.  He  did  not  obtain  the  supreme  command,  but 
was  authorized  to  carry  out  his  designs  upon  Belgium. 

The  Belgian- Austrians  in  the  course  of  September,  profiting  by 
the  departure  of  a  great  portion  of  the  French  army  from  Flanders 
to  Argonne,  had  assumed  the  defensive  toward  the  department  of 
the  North.  They  surprised  and  carried  two  small  camps  at  Maulde 
and  at  Saint-Amand,  after  which  the  duke  of  Saxe-Teschen,  hus- 
band of  the  archduchess  Christine,  who  governed  Belgium,  appeared 
before  Lisle  September  24  His  army  was  too  small  to  attempt 
a  regular  siege,  or  completely  to  invest  this  large  town.  He  tried 


332  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XII. 

to  reduce  the  place  by  bombardment,  and  from  the  29th  of  Septem- 
ber to  the  6th  of  October  Austrian  cannon  and  mortars  belched 
forth  upon  Lisle  thousands  of  red-hot  shot  and  bomb-shells.  Many 
public  and  private  edifices  were  destroyed  by  the  projectiles  or 
devoured  by  flames.  Christine,  the  ruling  archduchess,  came  in 
person,  it  is  said,  to  contemplate  the  barbarous  spectacle,  and  to 
animate  the  Austrian  cannonaders.  This  did  not  tend  to  soften  the 
Parisians  toward  her  sister,  Marie  Antoinette,  the  unhappy  queen 
imprisoned  in  the  Temple. 

The  people  of  Lisle  and  their  garrison  showed  great  heroism.  All 
political  and  private  feuds  had  disappeared  in  a  common  indig- 
nation and  a  unanimous  resolve.  The  city  now  formed  but  one 
family ;  all  lent  their  aid  either  to  arrest  the  flames,  to  minister  to 
the  unfortunates  driven  from  their  burning  houses,  or  to  divide 
their  little  store  with  their  neighbors.  "  Eat  and  drink,"  they  said, 
"as  long  as  we  have  food;  afterwards  Providence  will  provide." 
The  people  answered  the  hissing  of  the  fiery  balls  with  shouts  of 
"  Long  live  the  Eepublic ! "  Like  the  Parisians  of  our  own  day, 
when  their  city  was  bombarded  by  the  Prussians,  they  finally  made 
sport  of  the  bullets. 

The  gate  leading  to  Armentieres  having  been  left  open,  reinforce- 
ments daily  entered  the  place.  An  army  for  the  relief  of  Lisle  was 
quickly  formed  in  Artois.  The  Duke  of  Saxe-Teschen  was  obliged 
to  raise  the  siege  with  great  haste  in  the  night  of  the  7th  of  October. 
He  was  soon  forced  to  contend  against  formidable  reprisals ;  in  the 
latter  part  of  October  Dumouriez  began  energetic  preparations  for 
the  invasion  of  Belgium.  Before  the  commencement  of  this  in- 
vasion other  conquests  were  made  without  the  shedding  of  a  drop 
of  blood;  the  people  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ehine  won  French 
nationality  by  giving  themselves  to  France. 

Savoy,  united  to  the  Italian  kingdom  of  Sardinia  by  the  acci- 
dent of  feudal  heirship,  but  French  by  its  geographical  situation, 
its  Gallic  origin,  its  language,  and  its  social  affinities,  shared  the 
sentiments  and  ideas  of  the  French  Eevolution.  The  Savoyards 
made  an  earnest  appeal  for  French  soldiers.  When  the  French 


1792.]  ANNEXATION  OF  SAVOY  AND  NICE.  333 

entered  Savoy  on  the  22d  of  September,  the  Piedmont  forces  of  the 
king  of  Sardinia,  seeing  the  whole  country  opposed  to  them,  aban- 
doned all  the  forts  without  resistance  and  fell  back  to  the  Upper 
Alps.  Montesquiou,  the  French  general,  at  the  invitation  of  the 
citizens  of  Chambery,  entered  their  town  almost  without  an  escort, 
as  if  it  had  been  a  French  city  (September  24).  A  liberty-tree  was 
planted  there  amid  the  acclamations  of  an  immense  throng  from  the 
mountains.  Sixty  thousand  men,  women,  and  children  chanted  on 
their  knees  these  lines  of  the  Marseillaise :  — 

"Liberte,  liberte  cherie, 
Combats  avec  tes  defenseurs  ! " 

A  few  weeks  after,  deputies  from  all  the  Savoy  communes,  "  con- 
voked under  the  auspices  of  the  Supreme  Being,"  gathered  at  Cham- 
bery. Out  of  more  than  six  hundred  and  fifty  all  save  one  voted 
for  annexation  to  France.  These  deputies  formed  themselves  into 
a  temporary  national  convention,  and,  discarding  the  name  of  Savoy- 
ards, resumed  the  old  Gallic  name  of  the  Albroges,  their  ancestors 
who  had  in  olden  times  so  bravely  resisted  the  Romans.  This 
Albrogian  assembly  decreed  the  abolition  of  royalty,  of  nobility, 
and  of  all  privileges,  and  sent  four  commissioners  to  Paris  to  pre- 
sent its  vote  for  annexation  to  the  National  Assembly.  Six  days 
after,  on  the  27th  of  November,  Bishop  Gregoire  read  the  report  of 
the  committees  upon  this  proposition,  demonstrating  that  the  com- 
mon interest  of  France  and  Savoy  demanded  a  free  and  legitimate 
annexation.  The  vote  of  Savoy  was  almost  unanimously  accepted, 
and  it  became  the  department  of  Mont  Blanc. 

In  the  Maritime  Alps  the  French  arms  won  no  such  easy  success ; 
the  people  were  not  so  decidedly  in  favor  of  France,  and  the  forces 
of  the  king  of  Sardinia  were  comparatively  greater  here  than  in 
Savoy.  Saint- Andre*,  the  Piedmontese  general,  had  eighteen  thou- 
sand soldiers  and  a  powerful  artillery,  while  Anselme,  the  French 
general,  had  only  twelve  thousand  men,  half  new  recruits,  and  a  few 
cannon.  Anselme,  however,  made  the  enemy  believe  he  had  fifty 
thousand  men  at  his  disposal.  Saint-Andre,  supposing  himself 
confronted  by  a  great  army,  and  seeing  a  French  squadron  manoeu- 


334  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XII. 

vring  on  his  flank,  lost  his  presence  of  mind,  and  fell  back  from  the 
Var  to  Saorgio,  abandoning  his  cannon  and  munitions.  Anselme 
crossed  the  -Var,  and  entered  Nice  without  opposition.  The  for- 
tresses of  Montalban  and  Villafranche  surrendered  without  strikin^ 

O 

a  blow,  and  their  large  store  of  provisions  and  upwards  of  one  hun- 
dred pieces  of  artillery  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French. 

The  inhabitants  of  Nice  followed  the  example  of  the  Savoyards, 
and  implored  the  Convention  to  grant  their  request  to  become 
Frenchmen.  "  We  declare  to  you  in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme 
Being,"  said  their  address  of  November  4,  "that  we  will  sacrifice 
all  we  hold  most  dear  to  aid  you  in  unfurling  everywhere  the  stand- 
ard of  liberty."  The  territory  of  Nice  became  the  department  of 
the  Maritime  Alps. 

This  region  had  formed  part  of  ancient  Gaul.  In  the  Middle 
Ages  Nice  had  been  a  fief  of  Provence ;  it  had  subsequently  fallen 
by  inheritance  to  the  house  of  Savoy ;  but  a  large  majority  of  the 
people  were  Provengal  rather  than  Italian,  and  French  was  spoken 
in  the  cities.  France  had  thus  obtained,  by  the  voluntary  cession 
of  its  inhabitants,  that  natural  frontier  of  the  Alps  which  separates 
it  from  Italy. 

Everywhere  the  French  carried  the  war  into  the  enemy's  terri- 
tory ;  they  had  now  penetrated  into  the  ecclesiastical  principalities 
of  the  Ehine,  where  the  emigrants  had  so  long  defied  and  menaced 
the  Eevolution.  Before  the  siege  of  Valmy,  the  enemy  having 
committed  the  grave  error  of  stripping  the  left  bank  of  the  Ehine 
of  troops  to  reinforce  the  unsuccessful  siege  of  Thionville,  General 
Custine  marched  upon  Speyer,  and  on  the  30th  of  September  cap- 
tured the  town,  taking  three  thousand  prisoners  and  large  military 
stores.  On  the  4th  of  October  he  occupied  "Worms. 

The  arrival  of  the  French  produced  a  lively  impression  in  the 
Ehenish  provinces.  The  ecclesiastic  princes,  the  nobility,  and  the 
clergy  were  struck  with  terror,  and  many  of  them  fled  beyond  the 
Ehine.  But  the  people  awaited  the  French  as  liberators,  especially 
after  Custine's  proclamation :  "  "War  to  the  palaces  !  Peace  to  the 
cottages ! "  Custine,  who  had  only  eighteen  thousand  men,  hesitated 


1792.]  THE  FRENCH   UPON  THE  RHINE.  335 

about  advancing.  The  country-people,  the  patriotic  "  Rhine-folk," 
urged  him  to  march  upon  Mayence.  This  large  place,  the  most 
important  of  all  upon  the  Ehine,  guarded  by  two  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  cannon  and  well  provisioned,  defended  itself  for  only 
twenty-four  hours.  The  citizens  did  not  support  the  garrison,  which 
itself  was  very  wavering.  The  French  had  appeared  on  the  19th 
of  October ;  on  the  21st  the  gates  were  opened,  and  they  were  ami- 
cably received  by  the  people  of  Mayence. 

The  movement  in  favor  of  the  French  Revolution  was  even 
more  decided  in  the  neighboring  towns  than  in  Mayence,  and  in 
the  country  than  in  the  cities.  The  inhabitants  of  the  duchy  of 
Deux-Ponts,  of  the  cis-Rhenish  Palatinate,  and  the  small  neigh- 
boring manors,  drove  away  the  officers  who  held  rule  over  them, 
and  called  in  the  French.  The  good  discipline  of  the  French  sol- 
diery aided  in  the  diffusion  of  republican  principles.  The  people 
of  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  saw  with  admiration  an  army,  poor, 
ragged,  and  shod  with  sabots,  everywhere  respecting  persons  and 
property,  and  always  paying  for  whatever  it  took. 

The  political  sympathies  which  drew  this  country  toward  France 
prevailed  over  the  community  of  language  which  united  it  to  Ger- 
many. Perhaps  also  the  instincts  which  arise  from  origin  height- 
ened these  sympathies,  for  a  large  part  of  the  peoples  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine  are  descended  either  from  the  ancient  Gauls, 
or  from  the  old  Roman  legions,  which  had  permanently  settled  as  a 
large  military  colony  along  that  river.  The  people  on  the  Rhine  have 
the  same  hatred  as  the  French  of  everything  which  recalls  feudalism, 
and  the  same  attachment  to  equality  and  to  modern  civil  law. 

Mayence,  situated  at  the  confluence  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Main, 
was  of  the  highest  importance  in  this  war  with  Germany ;  but  Cus- 
tine's  successes  upon  the  Rhine  should  not  have  been  limited  to 
this  place.  He  would  have  met  with  no  resistance  from  there  to 
Coblentz,  which  would  have  surrendered  to  him  like  Mayence,  if  he 
had  descended  the  Rhine.  Custine,  however,  had  other  aims  which 
surpassed  his  strength  and  capacity.  Intoxicated  with  his  easy  suc- 
cesses, and  reinforced  by  a  few  thousand  soldiers,  he  dreamed  of 


336  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XII. 

carrying  his  arms  into  the  heart  of  Germany.  Instead  of  marching 
upon  Coblentz  on  the  very  day  of  the  surrender  of  Mayence,  he  sent 
a  portion  of  his  soldiers  across  the  Rhine,  and  the  next  day  took 
possession  of  the  imperial  city  of  Frankfort.  Here  he  levied  a  war- 
tax,  and  sent  detachments  far  into  the  interior  of  the  country. 

This  was  at  once  a  military  and  a  political  error.  The  German 
Diet,  after  much  talking,  had  decided  on  no  course  of  action ;  it  had 
not  yet  declared  war  upon  France,  so  that  the  German  Empire  was 
not  engaged  in  hostilities  as  a  body.  The  free  city  of  Frankfort, 
the  elector  of  Bavaria,  and  many  of  the  petty  German  princes 
remained  neutral.  It  was  for  the  interest  of  France  to  keep  them 
so.  On  the  left  bank  of  the  Ehine  the  people  who  were  on  the 
best  terms  with  the  French  had  approved  of  the  taxes  levied  on 
the  princes  and  the  clergy.  The  ransom  demanded  from  Frankfort 
by  Custine,  who  was  censured  for  it  by  the  French  ministry,  pro- 
duced, on  the  contrary,  a  very  bad  effect;  the  Hessian  peasants 
began  to  harass  the  French  detachments.  Custine's  force  was  not 
large  enough  to  undertake  great  enterprises  beyond  the  Rhine,  and 
to  profit  at  the  same  time  by  the  panic  which  had  extended  as  far  as 
the  Danube.  The  German  Diet  had  been  obliged  to  flee  to  Ratisbon. 

Custine's  raid  into  Germany  lost  Coblentz  to  France,  and  facili- 
tated the  retreat  of  the  king  of  Prussia  toward  the  Rhine,  which  he 
reached  early  in  November.  The  council  of  ministers  and  Dumou- 
riez  had  desired  that  the  Rhine  should  be  the  aim  and  limit  of  the 
French  operations ;  but  the  Convention  allowed  itself  to  be  dazzled 
by  the  facile  exploits  of  Custine,  who  boasted  of  dissolving  the 
German  Empire  and  summoning  all  the  Germans  to  be  free.  He 
was  able  to  maintain  himself  only  a  few  weeks  beyond  the  Rhine, 
and  the  king  of  Prussia,  reinforced  by  Austrian  and  German  sol- 
diers, forced  him  to  evacuate  Frankfort  on  the  2d  of  December. 

The  enemy  thus  succeeded  in  regaining  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  and  in  maintaining  himself  on  the  Moselle  from  Treves 
to  Coblentz.  But  meantime  the  French  struck  a  great  blow  in 
Belgium. 

Dumouriez  took  the  field  anew,  October  28,  by  the  way  of  Valen- 


1792.]  THE  FRENCH  UPON   THE  RHINE.  337 

ciennes,  with  the  main  body  of  his  army,  and  marched  upon  Mons, 
while  one  of  his  lieutenants  menaced  Tournai.  A  body  of  volun- 
teers from  Belgium  and  Liege  marched  with  the  French  van,  and 
Dumouriez  opened  the  campaign  with  a  proclamation  to  the  Belgian 
people,  announcing  that  the  French  entered  their  own  knd  as 
brothers  and  liberators. 

The  Austrian  army  corps  which  had  besieged  Lisle  protected 
Mons.  Its  advanced  posts  were  driven  back  by  the  French.  The 
Duke  of  Saxe-Teschen  concentrated  his  principal  forces  before 
Mons,  upon  the  wooded  plateau  which  extends  from  Jemmapes  to 
Cuesmes.  He  had  only  twenty-eight  thousand  men  to  oppose  to 
upwards  of  forty  thousand,  but  his  advantageous  position  compen- 
sated for  his  inferiority  in  numbers.  The  French  had  to  scale  a 
rising  ground  in  the  form  of  an  amphitheatre,  defended  by  abattis  of 
trees,  and  by  redoubts  with  three  stages  from  which  to  fire.  This 
amphitheatre  was  supported  at  its  extremities  by  two  strongly  in- 
trenched villages. 

Dumouriez  might  have  flanked  the  enemy's  position ;  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  attack  it  in  front.  His  young  army  had  proved  its 
steadfastness  at  Valmy ;  he  now  wished  to  show  what  its  impetuous 
ardor  could  accomplish.  The  French  soldiers  passed  a  cold  night  in 
the  mire  of  a  marshy  plain.  On  the  morning  of  November  6  they 
set  out  on  their  march  fasting.  They  were  told  that  they  should 
dine  after  their  victory.  The  left  wing  was  to  assault  Jemmapes ; 
the  right  wing  was  to  assail  the  formidable  redoubts  of  Cuesmes ; 
the  centre  was  to  scale  the  height  as  soon  as  one  of  the  wings 
should  have  gained  an  advantage.  After  a  prolonged  cannonade, 
the  leaders  of  the  left  wing  hesitating  to  make  a  direct  charge, 
Dumouriez  sent  them  his  chief-of-staff,  Thouvenot,  who  was  his 
right  arm.  This  vigorous  and  able  officer  inspired  the  soldiers,  who 
begged  permission  to  advance,  and  in  a  moment  carried  the  redoubts 
which  covered  Jemmapes. 

Dumouriez  then  pushed  forward  the  centre.  A  corps  of  Aus- 
trian cavalry  was  defiling  from  a  hollow.  The  French  infantry  of 
the  centre  wavered,  halted,  or  turned  aside.  Two  young  men  rallied 

22 


338-  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XII. 

tlie  faltering  brigades  :  one  was  a  valet,  the  other  a  prince,  —  Eenard, 
the  valet-de-chambre  of  Dumouriez ;  and  Louis  Philippe  of  Orleans, 
formerly  Duke  of  Chartres,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
and  now  at  nineteen  brigadier-general  in  the  service  of  the  Eepub- 
lic.  It  was  a  splendid  example  of  equality  in  duty  and  in  honor. 

The  centre  repaired  its  momentary  weakness  by  vigorously  assail- 
ing the  height  and  lending  a  hand  to  the  left  and  to  Thouvenot. 

Dumouriez,  meantime,  rushed  to  the  right  wing,  where  the  contest 
was  most  terrific  and  infuriated.  The  enemy  had  heaped  up  imped- 
iments, and  carried  the  flower  of  its  forces  in  the  direction  of 
Cuesmes.  The  French  infantry  of  the  right,  and  three  battalions 
of  Parisian  volunteers  led  by  the  brave  general,  Dampierre,  had 
valiantly  forced  the  first  line  of  redoubts ;  but  there  were  two  other 
lines.  The  French  foot-soldiers  were  here  arrested  by  a  terrible 
fire,  and  the  cavalry  was  much  demoralized  when  Dumouriez  came 
up.  While  he  was  reorganizing  the  cavalry,  the  Austrian  dragoons 
made  a  flank  charge  upon  the  Parisians,  who  repulsed  them  by  a 
close  volley.  Dumouriez  swept  the  Austrian  cavalry  with  his  hus- 
sars, returned  to  the  head  of  the  infantry,  and  ordered  the  band 
to  strike  up  the  Marseillaise.  His  soldiers  rushed  on  with  fixed 
bayonets,  and  immediately  turned  the  redoubts;  the  Hungarian 
grenadiers  who  defended  them  were  cut  in  pieces  or  put  to  flight. 

The  central  redoubts  had  also  just  been  carried.  The  assault  had 
begun  at  noon ;  at  two  o'clock  the  whole  line  of  intrenchments  was 
taken.  The  enemy  hastened  its  retreat,  and  abandoned  Mons.  On 
the  next  day  the  inhabitants  of  Mons  gave  the  French  army  a 
triumphal  entry. 

The  events  of  this  day  re-echoed  through  France  and  Europe. 
The  battle  of  Jemmapes  had  taught  the  world  the  true  value  of  the 
army  of  the  Eevolution. 

The  valet  who  had  helped  gain  the  battle  was  presented  to  the 
National  Convention.  The  president  embraced  the  brave  young 
man,  and  conferred  upon  him  a  captain's  brevet.  The  Conven- 
tion also  recompensed  other  acts  of  devotion  which  history  ought 
not  to  forget.  Two  young  Alsatian  girls,  the  sisters  Fernig,  by  the 


1792.]  THE  FRENCH   UPON   THE  RHINE.  339 

side  of  their  father  and  brothers,  went  through  the  double  campaign 
of  Yalmy  and  Jeinmapes  as  aides-de-camp  to  Dumouriez.  Beautiful, 
well-bred,  educated,  and  of  irreproachable  virtue,  they  displayed  the 
most  brilliant  courage,  and  gained  the  respect  of  the  whole  army. 

Embarrassments  arising  from  the  delay  of  supplies  caused  Du- 
mouriez to  lose  some  days,  and  prevented  his  energetic  pursuit  of 
the  Austrians.  Nevertheless,  November  14  he  entered  Brussels 
amid  the  acclamations  of  its  inhabitants.  Four  thousand  deserters 
from  the  Austrian  army,  Belgians  for  the  most  part,  rejoined  the 
French  army  in  Brussels. 

Tournai  and  all  Flanders  were  already  in  possession  of  France, 
and  the  French  army  had  taken  Antwerp  on  the  eve  of  its  en- 
trance into  Brussels.  The  Antwerp  citadel  surrendered  on  the 
26th.  Dumouriez  drove  before  him  the  remnant  of  the  Austrian 
army,  forcing  it  beyond  the  Meuse,  and  on  the  28th  entered  Liege, 
which  was  finally  delivered  from  the  tyranny  of  its  bishop-prince 
and  the  Germans.  Namur  surrendered  to  a  French  corps  on«the 
2d  of  December.  From  Lie'ge  the  French  advance  marched  upon 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  on  the  16th  of  December  entered  this  old 
capital  of  Charlemagne.  All  Belgium  now  belonged  to  France. 

The  campaign,  which  had  opened  with  the  invasion  of  Lorraine 
and  Champagne,  ended  with  the  annexation  of  Savoy  and  Nice  to 
France,  and  with  the  occupation  of  a  portion  of  the  Ehenish  prov- 
inces and  of  all  Belgium. 

On  the  19th  of  November,  in  response  to  an  address  from  the 
Mayence  patriots  demanding  that  France  should  not  abandon  them, 
the  National  Convention  had  declared,  in  the  name  of  the  French 
nation,  that  it  would  grant  fraternity  and  assistance  to  all  peoples 
seeking  to  recover  their  liberty.  On  the  15th  of  December  the 
Convention  decreed  that  in  those  countries  which  were  or  might  be 
occupied  by  the  armies  of  the  French  Republic  the  generals  should 
immediately  proclaim  the  abolition  of  existing  imposts,  tithes,  feu- 
dal claims,  chattel  or  personal  servitude,  the  exclusive  rights  of  the 
chase,  and  all  privileges.  "The  generals,"  added  this  proclama- 
tion, "  shall  proclaim  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  and  the  abolition 


340  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XII. 

of  all  existing  authorities;  they  shall  convoke  the  people  into  primary 
assemblies  to  organize  a  provisional  administration.  The  provis- 
ional administrations  shall  cease  as  soon  as  the  inhabitants  shall 
have  organized  a  free  and  popular  form  of  government." 

To  the  declaration  of  Pilnitz,  in  which  the  foreign  powers  had 
announced  their  intervention  in  the  internal  affairs  of  France,  the 
Legislative  Assembly  had  replied  by  a  declaration  of  war ;  to  the 
Coblentz  manifesto,  which  asserted  that  foreign  armies  were  about 
to  enter  France  to  chastise  the  Revolution,  the  armies  of  the  Revo- 
lution had  replied  by  routing  the  enemy  and  carrying  the  Revolu- 
tion beyond  the  frontiers.  The  National  Convention  completed  this 
response  by  assigning  to  the  French  army,  as  its  mission,  the 
destruction  of  the  Ancient  Regime  wherever  the  tricolored  flag 
should  be  borne. 

At  the  very  moment  when  the  Convention  was  decreeing  popular 
sovereignty  in  the  countries  occupied  by  the  French  armies,  the 
people  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  from  Speyer  to  Bingen,  were 
disposing  of  their  own  destiny  in  accordance  with  the  right  which 
General  Custine  had  recognized  as  theirs.  They  voted  for  universal 
suffrage,  for  the  acceptance  of  the  French  Republic,  and  for  annexa- 
tion to  France  (December  17,  18). 

"The  dissenting  voices,"  wrote  Forster,  the  learned  traveller,  a 
leader  of  the  Mayence  republicans,  "  are  as  a  drop  of  water  in  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  whole  country.  The  peasants  coura- 
geously declare  their  sentiments.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  one  can 
dream  of  reconquering  the  populations  beyond  the  Rhine  who 
have  seceded  of  their  own  accord." 

On  the  21st  of  March,  1793,  a  Rhenish  convention  renewed  this 
vote,  and  commissioned  Forster  and  two  other  delegates  to  carry 
it  to  the  French  Convention.  "  Through  union  with  us,"  said  the 
Rhenish  address  drawn  up  by  Forster,  "  you  will  acquire  that 
which  belongs  to  you  of  right.  Nature  herself  has  prescribed  the 
Rhine  as  the  frontier  of  France;  it  was  such  in  the  early  ages. 
Through  union  with  us  you  regain  your  Mayence,  the  only  gate 
through  which  the  armies  and  the  cannon  of  the  enemy  can  pene- 
trate into  your  provinces." 


1792.]  THE  CONVENTION.  341 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued). — CONFLICT  OF  THE  GIRONDE  AND  THE 
MOUNTAIN. — TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVL  —  THE  21ST  OF  JANUARY. 

September,  1792,  to  January,  1793. 

"T71ROM  the  first  victories  of  the  Revolution  against  kings  we  will 
JL'  now  return  to  its  internal  conflicts,  to  the  first  debates  of  the 
great  Assembly,  which  had  opened  on  the  21st  of  September.  Like 
the  Legislative  Assembly,  the  Convention  was  composed  of  seven 
hundred  and  forty-nine  members,  among  whom  were  seventy-seven 
members  of  the  Constituent  and  one  hundred  and  eighty-one  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislative  Assembly.  Among  the  Constituents  re- 
appeared its  first  republicans,  Petion  and  Buzot,  and  with  them 
Robespierre,  Sieves,  Rabaut-Saint-£tienne,  Gregoire,  and  the  ex- 
Duke  of  Orleans,  who  had  changed  his  family  name,  and  was. now 
called  Louis  Philippe-Joseph  figalite.  Among  the  re-elected  dele- 
gates of  the  Legislative  Assembly  were  Condorcet,  Brissot,  Vergniaud, 
Guadet,  Gensonne,  Ducos,  Isnard,  Cambon,  Carnot,  Thuriot,  Couthon, 
and  Merlin  de  Thionville.  Some  of  the  new  deputies  were  as  well 
known  as  the  most  renowned  members  of  the  Constituent  or  Legis- 
lative Assembly.  ,  Leaders  of  the  clubs  and  editors  of  the  Jacobin 
and  Girondist  journals  had  entered  the  Convention  with  Danton, 
Camille-Desmoulins,  and  Marat.  Many  unknown  names  were  soon 
to  become  famous  in  their  turn. 

The  great  body  of  both  the  Legislative  Assembly  and  the  Con- 
vention came  from  the  middle  class  of  citizens.  The  manner  in 
which  the  parties  grouped  themselves  indicated  the  onward  course 
of  events ;  the  Feuillants,  who  had  formed  the  Left  of  the  Con- 
stituent, had  become  the  Right  of  the  Legislative  Assembly.  They 


342  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

had  now  disappeared,  and  the  Gironde,  formerly  the  Left  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly,  became  the  Eight  of  the  Convention,  that  is, 
the  conservative  branch.  The  Mountaineers  (Montagnards)  pres- 
ently became  the  Left  of  the  Convention.  The  Mountain  was 
composed  of  almost  the  entire  Paris  delegation,  and  of  the  depu- 
ties elected  in  the  departments  through  the  influence  of  the  Paris 
Jacobins. 

These  two  groups  of  the  Eight  and  the  Left  differed  widely  in 
manners  and  in  appearance ;  the  Girondists  were  scholars,  orators, 
and  philosophers,  men  of  refined  culture  and  of  distinguished  bear- 
ing, who  still  retained  the  elegance  of  the  eighteenth  century  in 
their  simple  but  stylish  dress,  and  the  most  of  whom  still  adhered 
to  the  fashion  of  powdered  hair.  The  Mountaineers  were  as  a  body 
less  cultivated ;  they  were  negligent  in  dress,  and  wore  their  long 
hair  unpowdered  and  dishevelled.  Their  rude  manners  indicated 
that  they  were  passionate  and  combative.  At  a  later  day  a  num- 
ber of  them  revealed  superior  executive  and  administrative  as  well 
as  military  faculties. 

The  Girondists,  who  had  given  the  chief  impulse  to  the  Eevolu- 
tion,  now  aspired  to  pacify  and  to  organize  it ;  the  Mountain  party 
wished  to  press  it  forward  impetuously,  and  to  overthrow  its  ene- 
mies both  at  home  and  abroad.  Between  these  two  parties  was  an 
immense  intermediate  body,  the  Centre,  numbering  fully  two  thirds 
of  the  Assembly,  who  dreaded  the  violence  of  the  Mountaineers, 
abhorred  the  September  massacres  and  the  anarchy  of  the  com- 
mune, and  inclined  toward  the  Girondists,  but  not  without  some 
distrust  of  their  exclusive  spirit,  and  some  jealousy  of  their  brill- 
iancy and  preponderance. 

The  two  parties  of  the  Eight  and  the  Left  were  separated  by 
mutual  prejudices  which  were  continually  increasing.  The  Giron- 
dists confounded  in  their  aversion  the  Mountain  and  the  commune, 
and  everything  which  was  akin  to  the  former ;  they  suspected  the 
Mountaineers  of  being  ready  to  join  Marat  in  repeating  the  2d  of 
September,  and  of  desiring  a  triumvirate  composed  of  Eobespierre, 
Danton,  and  Marat,  or  a  dictatorship  for  Danton,  or  even  the  res- 


1792.]  THE  GIRONDE  AND   THE  MOUNTAIN.  343 

toration  of  royalty  in  favor  of  the  ex-Duke  of  Orleans,  Philippe 
Egalite,  who  had  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Mountain  party 
less  to  further  his  ambition  than  to  protect  his  person  and  prop- 
erty. 

The  Mountaineers,  on  their  side,  accused  the  Girondists  of  aiming 
to  divide  Trance  into  petty  republics,  and  even  suspected  them  of 
an  inclination  to  restore  royalty  through  the  medium  of  social 
anarchy,  because  they  had  attempted  to  enlighten  Louis  XVI.  con- 
cerning the  true  state  of  affairs  and  to  prevent  the  massacres  of  the 
10th  of  August.  Both  parties  were  equally  unjust.  The  Girondists 
had  been  the  first  and  remained  the  most  steadfast  of  the  repub- 
licans. They  did  not  dream  of  destroying  the  unity  of  France.  The 
Mountaineers  desired  neither  triumvirate  nor  dictator,  far  less  to 
make  Philippe  Egalite  king.  Few  of  them  had  anything  to  do 
with  the  September  massacres,  and  they  had  little  sympathy  with 
the  commune. 

Both  Mountaineers  and  Girondists  were  alike  devoted  to  the 
Republic,  and  there  was  no  real  opposition  between  them  as  to 
principles ;  the  difference  lay  in  forms  and  measures.  The  error  of 
the  Mountain  was  its  inclination  to  violent  measures  and  its  slight 
regard  for  legal  order.  The  Girondists  certainly  had  no  thought  of 
dismembering  France,  but  they  did  not  attach  sufficient  importance 
to  its  political  unity.  They  were  well  versed  in  moral  philosophy, 
but  not  in  the  philosophy  of  history ;  they  mistook  Paris,  as  they 
mistook  Danton. 

Was  conciliation  impossible ;  and  through  what  means  might  it 
have  been  attempted  ?  There  was  but  one  means,  a  reconciliation 
between  Danton  and  the  Gironde.  Unhappily  this  reconciliation, 
which  might  still  have  averted  the  impending  evils,  did  not  take 
place ;  and  their  mutual  hostility  widened  the  abyss  already  opened 
by  the  rupture  between  the  Girondists  and  La  Fayette.  The  latter 
had  resulted  in  the  slaughter  of  August  10  and  September  2.  The 
new  disagreement  would  give  birth  to  the  21st  of  January,  the  revo- 
lutionary tribunal,  and  would  cause  the  suicide  of  the  Revolution. 

Danton,  whose  conciliatory  attitude  at  the  opening  of  the  Con- 


344  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

vention  we  have  remarked,  foresaw  the  consequences  and  tried  to 
avert  them.  Wherein  lay  the  obstacle  ?  Both  parties  might  have 
agreed  as  to  the  future ;  but  what  of  the  past,  the  terrible  past  of 
yesterday,  the  past  of  September  2  ? 

Danton  wished  to  throw  a  veil  over  the  past.  The  Girondists 
desired  its  chastisement.  Nothing  could  be  more  honorable  than 
their  passionate  indignation  against  these  great  crimes ;  but  did 
this  noble  sentiment  impose  upon  them  an  absolute  duty  ?  Ought 
everything  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  idea  of  pursuing  at  any  price, 
or  in  any  event,  the  punishment  of  every  guilty  deed,  when  this 
pursuit  may  entail  new  calamities  on  society  and  on  the  country  ? 

The  Girondists  had  not  thought  so  when  they  persuaded  the 
Legislative  Assembly  to  grant  an  amnesty,  for  political  reasons,  to 
the  men  they  execrated,  the  murderers  of  the  Avignon  Glaciere. 
Eoland  himself,  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  Avignon  amnesty, 
and  who  remained  to  the  end  firmly  opposed  to  all  anarchy,  had 
allowed  this  saying  to  escape  him  on  the  3d  of  September :  "  Yes- 
terday was  a  day  over  whose  events  we  should  perhaps  draw  a 
veil!" 

After  the  lapse  of  eighty  years,  history,  investigating  dispassion- 
ately and  judging  in  accordance  with  reason  and  the  love  of  coun- 
try, decides  that,  in  spite  of  everything,  the  Girondists  should  have 
become  reconciled  to  Danton.  We  will  proceed  to  relate  how  what 
should  have  been  done  was  left  undone,  and  what  was  the  origin 
of  those  fatal  dissensions  of  the  Convention  which  so  long  retarded 
the  establishment  of  liberty  and  the  definite  foundation  of  the  Ee- 
public. 

At  its  second  session  of  September  22  the  Convention  decreed 
the  renewal  of  the  whole  administrative  municipal  and  judiciary 
bodies.  The  primary  assemblies  also  held  re-elections  in  many 
places;  the  functionaries  elected  under  the  royal  democracy  of 
1791  were  no  longer  pleasing  to  the  Eepublic.  The  Convention 
went  further;  upon  Danton's  motion  it  decreed  that  henceforth 
judges  should  be  chosen  indiscriminately  from  all  citizens,  and  not 
alone  from  members  of  the  legal  profession.  This  was  carrying  to 


1793.]  THE  GIRONDE  AND  THE  MOUNTAIN. 

extremes  a  righteous  hatred  of  chicanery.  The  peril  of  electing 
judges  ignorant  of  the  law  was  soon  demonstrated  by  experience. 
On  the  24th  of  September  the  Girondist  Kersaint,  supported  by 
Vergniaud  and  Buzot,  demanded  the  indictment  of  the  instigators 
of  murder  and  anarchy.  The  proposition  passed  almost  unani- 
mously. At  the  next  day's  session  the  Girondist  Lasource,  a  Prot- 
estant pastor  of  Languedoc,  declared  that  Paris  ought  to  be  allowed 
only  an  eighty-third  share  of  power,  like  each  of  the  other  depart- 
ments. To  put  Paris  on  a  level  with  the  Lower  Alps  or  Cantal 
was  absurd.  The  true  policy  was  to  reorganize  the  commune,  the 
national  guard,  and  the  Parisian  police ;  to  regain  control  of  the  me- 
tropolis, not  to  react  against  it ;  and  to  show  that  the  force  sum- 
moned from  without  was  a  support  and  not  a  menace. 

But  in  order  to  do  this  Danton's  co-operation  was  needed.  Dan- 
ton  spoke  admirably.  He  repudiated  Marat  and  the  ultraists,  while 
protesting  that  there  was  no  need  of  inculpating  the  whole  Paris 
deputation.  "  As  for  myself,"  said  he,  "  I  do  not  belong  by  birth 
to  Paris :  none  of  us  belongs  to  such  or  such  a  department ;  we 
belong  to  all  France.  I  demand  the  penalty  of  death  against 
whomsoever  shall  declare  himself  in  favor  of  a  dictatorship,  as  well 
as  against  whomsoever  shall  seek  to  destroy  the  unity  of  France." 
He  also  proposed  that  the  basis  of  the  government  about  to  be 
formed  should  be  the  unity  of  the  national  representation  and  the 
executive  power. 

"  The  Austrians  will  shudder  to  hear  of  this  sacred  harmony," 
said  he.  "  I  swear  it  to  you,  that  it  will  strike  death  to  the  hearts 
of  our  enemies." 

Danton  had  spoken  of  the  country;  Eobespierre,  as  usual,  spoke  of 
himself.  Since  the  opening  of  the  Convention  he  had  been  reticent ; 
goaded  on  by  a  Girondist  who  had  denounced  the  "Eobespierre 
party,"  he  now  retaliated  by  accusations  against  "  those  who  were 
seeking  to  make  of  the  French  Republic  a  medley  of  petty  republi- 
can federations."  He  pretended  that  he  had  never  flattered  the 
French  people,  inasmuch  as  it  was  as  impossible  to  flatter  them  as 
it  would  be  to  flatter  Divinity  itself. 


346  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

Cambon,  who  came  from  Languedoc,  vehemently  protested  that 
there  were  no  "  federalists,"  and  that  the  South,  while  rejecting  the 
dictatorship  of  the  Paris  Commune,  ardently  desired  the  unity  of 
the  Republic.  Barbaroux  made  a  direct  charge  against  Robespierre, 
who,  he  said,  had  attempted  to  persuade  both  him  and  his  Mar- 
seillais  to  a  dictatorship  before  the  10th  of  August.  He  also 
announced  that  a  thousand  more  confederates  from  Marseilles,  both 
infantry  and  cavalry,  were  on  the  march  for  the  defence  of  the 
Convention. 

In  the  midst  of  this  stormy  debate  there  suddenly  appeared  at 
the  tribune  a  hideous  figure,  which  seemed  an  unclean  beast  rather 
than  a  man ;  a  sort  of  dwarf  in  sordid  garments,  with  great  wildly 
glaring  eyes,  and  a  wide  mouth  gaping  like  that  of  a  toad.  It  was 
Marat. 

The  Assembly  rose  in  disgust  and  indignation,  with  an  almost 
unanimous  cry,  "  Down  from  the  tribune ! "  Marat  remained  im- 
perturbable. He  claimed  for  himself  alone  the  idea  of  a  dictator- 
ship, wrongly  attributed,  he  said,  to  Robespierre  and  to  Danton. 
He  boldly  arrogated  the  credit  of  the  September  massacres.  "  The 
populace,  obedient  to  my  voice,"  cried  he,  "  has  saved  the  country 
by  constituting  itself  dictator  and  ridding  itself  of  traitors." 

He  ended,  however,  by  declaring  that  henceforth  the  dictatorship 
would  be  only  a  phantom,  provided  that  the  Convention  hastened 
to  adopt  "important  measures  which  would  secure  the  happiness  of 
the  people." 

A  deputy  replied  by  reading  an  article  of  Marat's,  saying  that 
there  was  nothing  to  be  hoped  for  from  the  Assembly,  and  demand- 
ing a  new  insurrection  and  a  patriotic  dictator.  Cries  of  "  To  the 
Abbaye ! "  arose  from  all  sides. 

To  this  article,  which  he  pretended  had  been  written  ten  days 
before,  Marat  responded  by  another  article  of  different  tenor,  dated 
that  very  day ;  then,  drawing  a  pistol  from  his  pocket  and  placing 
it  to  his  forehead,  he  declared  that  if  an  indictment  were  issued 
against  him  he  would  blow  out  his  brains  at  the  foot  of  the  tribune. 
The  Assembly,  disgusted  by  this  grotesque  yet  terrible  scene,  waived 


MARAT. 


1792.]  THE  GIRONDE  AND   THE  MOUNTAIN.  347 

all  action  in  regard  to  Marat,  and  resumed  the  regular  order  of 
proceedings. 

Danton's  resolution,  "  The  French  Eepublic  is  one  and  indivisi- 
ble," was  adopted,  but  not  the  penalty  of  death  that  he  had  de- 
manded against  all  persons  upholding  dictatorship  and  federalism. 

Although  no  indictment  had  been  issued  against  Marat,  the  gen- 
eral sentiment  of  the  Convention  was  hostile  to  him  and  to  all  who 
had  participated  in  the  events  of  September  2.  That  very  even- 
ing the  commune  repudiated  the  commissioners  it  had  sent  to  the 
departments,  and  who  had  been  charged  with  these  excesses ;  the 
commune  also  denounced  its  own  Committee  of  Surveillance,  and 
declared  that  it  should  be  given  up  to  be  tried  by  the  Convention. 
The  commune  hypocritically  succumbed.  The  Jacobins,  on  the 
contrary,  grew  more  determined.  They  erelong  erased  Brissot's 
name  from  their  rolls  in  the  most  insulting  and  calumnious  terms. 
This  was  Robespierre's  vengeance. 

Here  was  an  additional  reason  for  the  reconciliation  of  the  Gi- 
ronde  with  Danton,  but  the  Girondists  failed  to  understand  it.  The 
session  of  the  25th  had  revealed  the  hideousness  of  Marat  and  the 
mediocrity  of  Robespierre,  while  it  had  increased  Danton's  impor- 
tance. The  Girondists  grew  only  the  more  distrustful  of  him.  They 
more  than  ever  suspected  him  of  aiming  to  become  dictator ;  there 
were  some  among  them  who  even  imagined  that  he  was  aiming  at 
the  crown. 

Their  hostility  exasperated  Danton,  and  he  made  his  resentment 
felt.  He  had  tendered  his  resignation  as  minister  in  order  to  be- 
come deputy.  Roland  remained  both  minister  and  deputy.  In 
spite  of  the  incompatibility  between  these  two  functions  pro- 
nounced by  the  Assembly,  some  of  the  Girondists  requested  him 
to  retain  both  functions.  Danton  declared  that  no  man  was  more 
ready  than  himself  to  render  full  justice  to  Roland,  but  he  added, 
that  if  this  request  were  tendered  him,  it  should  be  tendered  to  Ma- 
dame Roland  also.  "  I  have  been  alone  in  my  department,"  he  said, 
"but  every  one  knows  that  Roland  has  not  been  alone  in  his."  v  This 
was  telling  the  Girondists  that  their  party  was  ruled  by  a  woman. 


348  THE  FRENCH  EEVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

The  Girondists  did  not  insist,  but  Eoland  replied  to  Danton's 
attack  in  a  haughty  letter,  announcing  that  he  should  resign 
his  place  as  deputy  and  remain  in  the  ministry.  "  I  consummate 
the  sacrifice,"  said  he ;  "I  devote  myself  to  death."  He  violently 
assailed  Danton,  but  without  naming  him,  by  drawing  a  portrait  of 
usurpers  and  dictators.  His  letter  ended  with  these  bitter  words : 
"  I  distrust  the  patriotism  of  any  one  who  is  charged  with  immoral- 
ity" (September  30). 

By  order  of  the  Convention  Eoland's  letter  was  sent  to  the 
departments. 

The  Girondists  sought  revenge  upon  Danton  by  taking  exception 
to  his  ministerial  accounts.  The  Convention  had  placed  a  certain 
sum  at  the  disposal  of  the  ministers  for  extraordinary  and  secret 
expenses,  and  Danton  could  not  account  for  what  he  had  received. 
He  had  little  system  in  money-matters,  but  he.  had  made  very  good 
use  of  these  secret  funds ;  he  had  thwarted  a  great  conspiracy  plot- 
ted by  the  nobles  of  Brittany  and  Poitou,  who  had  remained  at 
home  instead  of  emigrating,  like  the  rest  of  the  nobility.  Danton 
could  make  known  at  the  tribune  neither  his  means  nor  his  emissa- 
ries; before  becoming  minister  of  justice  he  had  surrounded  himself 
with  a  horde  of  men  more  energetic  than  scrupulous,  and  had  made 
himself  a  sort  of  minister  of  a  secret  police,  which  maintained  a 
constant  espionage  upon  the  proceedings  of  the  foreign  governments 
and  emigrants.  He  continued  this  espionage  during  his  ministry  as 
before  it. 

At  this  moment  Dumouriez,  who  spent  the  fortnight  between 
Valmy  and  Jemmapes  in  Paris,  endeavored  to  reconcile  Danton  and 
the  Gironde.  Sagacious,  though  immoral,  he  saw  that  in  this  lay 
the  only  course  of  securing  order  to  the  Kepublic.  Danton' did  not 
refuse  the  entreaties  of  Dumouriez;  the  obstacles  came  from  the 
other  side. 

Buzot's  scheme  for  the  formation  of  a  departmental  guard  of  some 
four  thousand  five  hundred  men  had  brought  about  a  new  crisis. 
The  Jacobins  pretended  that  this  guard  would  afford  another  means 
of  tyrannizing  over  Paris,  and  vehemently  opposed  it.  While  the 


1792.]  THE   GIRONDE  AND   THE  MOUNTAIN.  349 

commune  humbled  itself  officially  before  the  Convention,  its  most 
dangerous  leaders,  Hebert,  Chaumette,  and  Panis,  frenziedly  in- 
trigued among  the  sections.  The  permanence  of  the  sections  had 
caused  them  to  be  abandoned  in  the  end  by  the  vast  majority  of  the 
populace,  and  given  up  to  a  handful  of  turbulent  men.  Pretended 
delegates  from  the  sections  met  constantly  at  L'fiveche',  where  they 
formed  a  sort  of  assembly  which  went  beyond  the  too  moderate 
general  council  of  the  commune.  Eobespierre  himself, grew  anx- 
ious, and  attacked  at  the  Jacobin  Club  both  the  "  intriguers  of  the 
Gironde  and  the  ultraists  who  were  tending  toward  anarchy." 

The  Jacobins  did  not  conclude  to  rebuke  the  "enthusiasts,"  and 
Eobespierre  did  not  insist  on  it.  On  the  19th  of  October  the  ring- 
leaders of  L'fiveche  drew  up  a  petition  which  they  sent  to  the 
Convention,  protesting  against  the  proposed  guard  which  would 
place  its  members  on  a  level  with  tyrants,  and  denying  the  Assem- 
bly the  right  to  issue  decrees  until  it  possessed  a  constitution. 

The  Convention  indignantly  rejected  the  petition,  and  a  few 
sections  repudiated  the  delegates.  On  the  21st  of  October  the 
new  Marseillais  confederates,  announced  by  Barbaroux,  appeared 
at  the  bar  of  the  Convention,  declaring  that  they  had  come  to 
defend  it  from  agitators  and  men  ambitious  of  dictatorship. 

Civil  war  was  in  the  air.  The  Faubourg  Saint-Antoine  was  in 
commotion.  This  great  faubourg,  which  tad  been  so  active  upon 
the  10th  of  August,  had  remained  aloof  from  the  September  mas- 
sacres, and  was  not  under  the  control  of  the  agitators.  It  sent 
to  the  Assembly  a  deputation  whose  spokesman,  an  honest  fellow 
named  Gonchon,  exhorted  the  delegates  to  concord  in  patriotic 
and  moving  language. 

Through  him  the  true  voice  of  the  people  found  utterance. 
Would  to  Heaven  it  had  been  heeded !  The  impression  made  upon 
the  delegates  was  transient,  and  the  parties  soon  resumed  their 
infuriated  dissensions.  Marat's  impudence  frequently  gave  rise  to 
violent  scenes  in  the  Convention.  One  day,  when  he  was  accused 
of  having  said  that  two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  more  heads 
must  fall  to  secure  tranquillity,  he  replied, "  Well  —  yes !  that  is  my 
opinion." 


350  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

The  Parisian  Jacobins,  meantime,  glorified  the  September  mas- 
sacres, but  many  of  the  provincial  Jacobins  broke  with  the  mother 
society  of  Paris.  Public  opinion  in  nearly  all  France  was  on  the 
side  of  the  Girondists.  They  endeavored  to  turn  it  to  their  advan- 
tage. On  the  29th  of  October  Eoland,  the  minister  of  the  interior, 
presented  to  the  Convention  a  report  upon  the  situation  of  Paris, 
in  which  in  forcible  language  he  distinguished  the  great  day  of 
August  10  from  those  disastrous  days  of  September, — the  work, 
he  said,  of  a  handful  of  misled  or  blind  tools  and  their  villanous 
instigators.  He  attributed  the  powerlessness  of  his  efforts  to 
arrest  the  massacres  to  the  disorganization  of  the  public  authority, 
the  indifference  of  those  who  should  have  employed  it,  the  terror 
inspired  by  the  audacity  of  the  few,  and  the  inaction  of  the  muni- 
cipal authorities.  He  pointed  out,  as  the  causes  of  the  prevailing 
disorder  in  Paris,  the  aggressive  despotism  of  the  commune,  the  con- 
fusion of  the  authorities,  the  weakness  of  the  Legislative  Assembly, 
and  the  delay  of  the  Convention  in  taking  vigorous  measures. 

It  was  these  measures  that  were  now  in  question.  Buzot  insisted 
upon  the  indictment  of  the  instigators  of  sedition  and  murder,  but 
the  discussion  drifted  anew  into  personalities.  Eobespierre  was 
mentioned  in  one  of  the  documents  appended  to  Roland's  report. 
He  defended  himself.  The  Girondist  Louvet  declared  himself  Ro- 
bespierre's accuser.  Dahton  interposed,  condemning  Marat  anew, 
but  defending  Robespierre.  As  for  himself  personally,  he  boldly 
declared  that  he  was  unassailable,  and  he  ended  by  invoking  that 
fraternity  which  should  be  the  highest  grandeur  of  the  Convention. 

Louvet  maintained  his  charge  against  Robespierre  in  a  speech  at 
once  fiery,  impassioned,  and  sincere,  but  tending  rather  to  accuse 
him  of  exerting  a  dangerous  influence  than  to  prove  him  amenable 
to  judicial  condemnation.  The  most  salient  point  of  this  speech 
was  the  hurling  back  upon  the  Paris  commune  the  accusation  of 
federalism,  by  imputing  to  it,  and  with  truth,  a  desire  to  render  the 
municipalities  sovereign  and  to  unite  them  against  the  National 
Assembly.  Unhappily,  Louvet  persisted  in  associating  Danton  with 
Robespierre,  and  even  with  Marat,  in  the  fatal  inaction  of  the 


1792.]  THE   GIROXDE  AND   THE  MOUNTAIN.  351 

ministry  of  justice  during  the  September  massacres.  He  demanded 
that  Marat  should  be  prosecuted,  and  that  an  inquiry  should  be 
made  into  the  conduct  of  Robespierre  and  some  others. 

On  the  request  of  Robespierre  and  Danton  the  debate  was 
adjourned  to  November  5. 

The  next  day  Roland  denounced  the  commune  for  its  seditious 
petition  of  October  19  to  the  departments,  contrary  to  the  express 
prohibition  of  the  Convention.  Barere  proposed  the  immediate 
suspension  of  the  general  council  of  the  commune,  and  the  reorgan- 
ization of  the  city  of  Paris  both  as  regarded  its  civil  and  military 
status.  This  was  the  true  ground.  After  a  violent  harangue  from 
the  impetuous  Barbaroux,  and  much  tumult  and  excitement,  the 
Convention  summoned  a  deputation  from  the  commune  to  its  bar. 
Chaumette,  Hebert's  intimate  friend,  appeared ;  he  denied  that 
the  petition  had  been  sent  through  the  general  council  of  the  com- 
mune, and  declared  against  the  anarchists  and  agitators  who  were 
stirring  up  the  people.  The  old  disgraceful  comedy  was  played 
anew  ;  the  commune  again  averted  the  impending  blow ;  the  Assem- 
bly took  up  the  regular  order  of  the  day,  and  nothing  was  done. 

On  the  eve  of  the  day  fixed  for  the  discussion  of  the  charge 
against  Marat  and  Robespierre  adherents  of  the  Gironde  party 
ranged  the  streets,  shouting:  "To  the  guillotine  with  Marat  and 
Robespierre ! "  The  Jacobins,  on  the  contrary,  affected  an  excep- 
tional moderation.  A  young  deputy,  as  yet  unknown,  exclaimed, 
with  respect  to  the  repressive  law  proposed  by  Buzot,  "  What  sort 
of  a  government  is  that  which  plants  the  tree  of  liberty  upon  the 
scaffold  ! "  This  young  man,  who  thus  addressed  the  Jacobins,  was 
Saint-Just,  the  same  who  soon  became  the  scaffold's  most  merciless 
purveyor. 

Robespierre  had  leisurely  prepared  his  plea;  he  defended  him- 
self with  much  ability,  and  also  defended  the  commune  while  deny- 
ing his  personal  responsibility  for  its  acts.  He  represented  the 
massacres  as  a  spontaneous  impulse  of  the  people,  and  the  tribunals 
of  executioner  judges  improvised  on  the  2d  of  September  as  necessary 
to  legalize  the  popular  verdicts.  "  It  is  affirmed,"  said  he,  "  that  an 


352  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

• 
innocent  man  has  perished !     Citizens,  weep  for  this  cruel  error,  but 

keep  a  few  tears  for  the  hundred  thousand  patriots  who  have  been 
immolated  by  tyranny  ! "  He  resumed  the  offensive  against  Eoland 
and  the  Girondists,  but  preferred  against  them  no  other  charge  than 
that  of  having  accused  him  unjustly. 

Eobespierre  had  pleaded  his  cause  with  great  ability  and  modera- 
tion, but  he  vainly  tried  to  exculpate  himself  from  a  grave  accu- 
sation. On  the  eve  of  the  September  massacres,  and  even  while 
they  were  in  progress,  he  had  denounced  many  of  his  colleagues 
of  the  Convention  before  the  general  council  of  the  commune,  and 
Brissot's  house  had  been  searched  at  his  instigation.  This  point, 
however,  was  not  thoroughly  cleared  up ;  the  Assembly  was  weary 
of  personal  questions,  and  while  the  Mountain  and  the  tribunes 
applauded  Eobespierre,  the  Centre  cried,  "  The  order  of  the  day ! " 
Louvet  and  Barbaroux  wished  to  reply  to  Eobespierre,  but  they 
could  not  obtain  a  hearing.  Barere,  the  orator  of  the  Centre,  de- 
clared that  the  time  of  the  Assembly  must  not  be  wasted  on  these 
"petty  revolutionary  jobbers,"  and  in  giving  importance  to  these 
"  men  of  a  day  who  would  never  be  heard  of  in  history."  He  pro- 
posed the  following  resolution  :  — 

"  Whereas  the  National  Convention  should  occupy  itself  only  with 
the  interests  of  the  Eepublic,  it  will  now  take  up  the  order  of  the 
day." 

"  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  your  order  of  the  day,  with  its 
insulting  preamble,"  screamed  Eobespierre. 

The  resolution,  however,  passed  almost  unanimously. 

Barere  did  not  prove  a  true  prophet ;  Eobespierre  was  destined 
to  occupy  only  too  prominent  a  place  in  history.  He  emerged 
from  the  struggle  strengthened  and  exalted.  The  accusation  had 
been  an  error.  The  Eolands  and  their  friends  had  suffered  them- 
selves to  be  carried  away  by  passion,  and  Louvet,  the  accuser,  who 
had  spoken  for  the  Girondists,  although  possessed  of  talent  and 
courage,  had  neither  the  logic  nor  authority  necessary  to  cope  with 
a  man  like  Eobespierre. 

That  evening,  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  Manuel  having  bravely  stig- 


1792.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  353 

matized  the  2d  of  September  as  a  "  new  Saint-Bartholomew's  Day," 
Collot  d'Herbois,  an  ex-provincial  actor,  and  now  a  violent  political 
haranguer,  declared  that  the  2d  of  September  was  the  Creed  of 
Liberty ! 

The  following  day,  November  6,  the  anniversary  of  the  victory 
of  Jemmapes,  witnessed  the  commencement  of  the  trial  of  Louis 
XVI. 

The  Mountaineers  and  the  Jacobins  were  almost  a  unit  in  desir- 
ing the  trial  and  death  of  the  deposed  king.  The  Gironde  was 
divided ;  although  it  believed  Louis  XVI.  guilty,  it  wished  to  spare 
his  life. 

Was  Louis  XVI.  guilty  ?  In  a  strict  legal  point  of  view  he  was. 
He  had  summoned  foreigners  to  invade  France,  and  to  enforce  a 
change  in  her  institutions.  We  have  proofs  of  his  guilt  to-day 
far  more  explicit  and  complete  than  those  possessed  by  the  Con- 
vention. 

Louis  XVI.  being  guilty,  had  the  people  a  right  to  punish  him  ? 

At  this  time  we  no  longer  believe  in  the  divine  right  of  kings, 
or  in  any  other  divine  right  than  that  of  human  societies,  which 
are  under  the  direct  jurisdiction  of  God,  their  author,  and  not  of  his 
pretended  representatives,  and  which  should  be  at  liberty  to  dis- 
pose of  themselves.  We  cannot  admit  that  any  man  on  earth  has 
the  right  to  evade  responsibility  for  his  deeds.  The  higher  a  man 
is  in  dignity,  the  more  guilty  and  amenable  to  punishment  he  is 
if  he  fails  in  duty  to  that  society  of  which  he  is  the  magistrate,  and 
endangers  its  interests,  independence,  or  honor. 

In  a  strict  legal  point  of  view  the  people  had  a  right,  therefore, 
to  condemn  Louis  XVI. 

But  could  they,  in  equity,  pass  judgment  on  a  man  without  taking 
into  account  his  origin,  his  education,  and  the  ideas  he  had  received 
from  the  world  in  which  he  had  lived  ?  Louis  XVI.  had  imbibed 
principles  of  equity  and  duty  far  different  from  ours ;  he  believed 
that  God,  through  his  royal  birth,  had  conferred  upon  him  a  sov- 
ereign right  which  could  not  be  taken  from  him ;  he  imagined  it 
his  right  to  call  to  his  aid  other  kings,  his  "  brothers."  At  the  very 

23 


354  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

moment  when  he  was  most  seriously  attacking  the  liberty  of  the 
Trench  nation  he  fancied  himself  acting  for  the  good  of  those  he 
called  "  his  people."  In  reality  he  had  always  desired  the  good  of 
the  people  in  his  own  fashion. 

Considering  what  this  representative  of  so  long  a  traditionary 
line,  this  successor  of  so  many  kings,  was  and  thought,  no  one 
to-day  would  apply  to  him  in  its  full  rigor  a  law  which  he  neither 
accepted  nor  understood,  or  punish  his  errors  with  death. 

In  our  eyes,  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  are  no  longer  subject  to  the 
infatuations  of  this  terrible  epoch,  and  who  judge  with  the  calmness 
of  posterity,  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.  was  not  morally  equitable. 
"Was  it  politic  ? 

It  was  not  politic  either  from  the  standpoint  of  France  or  from 
that  of  Europe.  The  example  of  Charles  I.  in  England  should  have 
warned  France  that  the  execution  of  a  king  does  not  kill  royalty ; 
and  as  for  Europe,  a  penalty  so  cruel,  inflicted  upon  the  feeble 
Louis  XVI.,  whose  reign,  unlike  that  of  Charles  I.,  had  not  pre- 
sented to  the  people  a  type  of  tyranny  and  cruelty,  was  only  cal- 
culated to  excite  affright  and  pity,  and  to  alienate  the  sympathy  of 
many  from  the  French  Revolution. 

Neither  the  great  body  of  the  nation  nor  the  army  demanded  the 
death  of  Louis  XVI. ;  the  masses  were  less  incensed  against  him 
than  just  after  his  return  from  Varennes;  but  the  street  dema- 
gogues of  Paris  and  the  Jacobins  of  the  departments,  as  well  as 
the  parent  society,  a  portion  of  which  was  divided  upon  other  ques- 
tions, violently  demanded  the  death  of  the  ex-king. 

The  trial  began  with  a  report  of  the  Norman  deputy  Valaze  upon 
revelations  found  in  the  papers  of  Louis  XVI.  Although  Valaze 
was  of  the  Gironde  party,  his  language  was  passionate  beyond 
bounds.  Perhaps  he  railed  thus  violently  against  the  king  at  the 
beginning,  only  to  reserve  the  right  of  being  humane  at  the  last. 

The  next  day  a  second  report  from  the  Mountaineer  Mailhe,  less 
virulent  in  form,  but  no  less  rigorous  in  spirit,  concluded,  in  the 
name  of  the  Committee  of  Legislation,  that  Louis  XVI.  should  be 
tried,  and  tried  by  the  Convention. 


SAINT  JUST. 


1792.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  355 

The  discussion  opened  November  13,  with  the  conclusions  laid 
down  by  Mailhe.  A  deputy,  loading  Louis  XVI.  with  invectives 
in  an  effort  to  save  him,  maintained  that  the  ex-king,  whatever 
might  be  his  crimes,  was  inviolable  by  virtue  of  the  Constitution 
of  1791.  Louis  XVI.  had  nothing  to  gain  by  this  presentation  of 
the  question  of  inviolability ;  it  was  evident  that  public  opinion 
would  not  tolerate  even  its  discussion.  The  Constitution  of  1791 
had  indeed  declared  that  the  king  was  not  responsible  for  acts 
countersigned  by  his  ministers ;  but  Mailhe  had  clearly  shown  in 
his  report,  that  by  the  side  of  the  constitutional  ministers  Louis 
XVI.  had  unlawfully  employed  secret  ministers,  and  through  them 
had  committed  acts  which  the  Constitution  could  not  justify. 

To  refute  the  deputy  who  had  pretended  that  the  ex-king  was 
inviolable,  an  orator  until  then  unknown  in  the  Assembly  appeared 
on  the  platform.  He  was  a  young  man  scarcely  twenty-five  years 
old,  named  Saint-Just,  who  had  been  elected  from  the  department 
of  the  Aisne,  and  who  had  recently  made  his  first  public  appear- 
ance at  the  Jacobin  Club  under  the  auspices  of  Eobespierre.  In 
an  eloquent  speech,  as  hard,  cold,  and  trenchant  as  steel,  he  refuted 
not  only  the  inviolability  of  Louis  XVI.,  but  also  the  conclusions 
of  the  committee  who  proposed  to  try  the  ci-devant  king  as  a 
citizen.  "Boyalty,"  said  he,  "is  in  itself  a  crime.  Every  king 
is  a  rebel  and  a  usurper.  Louis  should  be  dealt  with,  not  as 
a  citizen,  but  as  an  enemy;  that  is  to  say,  he  should  be  put  to 
death  without  the  formality  of  trial"  He  furthermore  declared 
that  the  people  had  no  right  to  oblige  a  single  citizen  to  pardon 
a  "tyrant,"  and  pretended  that  any  man  had  the  right  to  put  a 
king  to  death. 

Saint- Just  ended  his  harangue  against  the  king  by  a  covert  attack 
upon  the  Gironde. 

The  impression  made  by  his  speech  and  physiognomy  was  ter- 
rible. Two  apparitions  equally  extraordinary  had  arisen  on  the 
tribune  since  the  opening  of  the  Convention,  Marat  and  Saint- 
Just,  —  two  figures  alike  menacing  and  implacable,  but  in  all  other 
respects  as  opposite  as  it  is  possible  to  imagine.  Marat  was  hideous 


356  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

as  the  stone  monsters  which  menace  passers-by  from  the  summit 
of  cathedral  towers.  Saint-Just  was  endowed  with  an  almost 
feminine  beauty,  but  a  beauty  that  appalled  one  like  that  of  the 
destroying  angels  of  mediaeval  painters.  No  breadth  of  thought 
was  indicated  by  his  low  brow,  in  correspondence  with  which  his 
mind  possessed  more  force  and  concentration  than  extent ;  his 
large  blue  eyes,  whose  fixed  glance  astonished  and  disturbed  the 
beholder,  were  full  of  inflexible  will;  his  attitude  was  as  rigid  as 
if  he  had  been  made  of  stone ;  his  language,  curt,  concise,  and  ax- 
iomatic, was  the  language  of  precept  and  command.  All  who  saw 
him  felt  that  he  was  something  else  than  a  man  of  words,  like 
Kobespierre,  and  that  his  words  would  be  deeds.  His  alliance  was 
destined  to  bring  Robespierre  a  new  and  formidable  power. 

Two  constitutional  bishops,  Fauchet  of  Calvados  and  Gregoire  of 
Loir-et-Cher,  spoke,  taking  opposite  sides ;  the  first  declaring  that 
Louis  XVI.  ought  not  to  be  tried,  but  "condemned  to  live,"  and 
the  second  that  he  ought  to  be  tried  in  order  to  complete  the 
destruction  in  Europe  of  the  belief  in  royal  inviolability.  The  cele- 
brated Thomas  Paine,  who,  having  become  a  French  citizen,  had 
been  elected  to  the  Convention,  supported  Gregoire,  and  proposed 
that  Louis  XVI.  should  be  tried  as  a  member  of  the  general  con- 
spiracy of  kings  against  revolutionary  France.  It  was  the  trial  of 
royalty  that  Paine  and  Gregoire  desired ;  neither  of  them  demanded 
the  death  of  Louis  XVI. 

An  economical  question  made  a  diversion  in  the  king's  trial. 
Great  suffering  prevailed  among  the  people,  caused  by  the  stag- 
nation of  commerce  and  manufactures  and  the  high  price  of  grain. 
The  populace  was  violently  opposed  to  the  circulation  of  grain ;  the 
municipalities  had  begun  again,  as  often  under  the  Ancient  Regime, 
arbitrarily  to  tax  provisions.  This  only  aggravated  the  evil.  Ro- 
land endeavored  to  restore  the  free  circulation  of  grain,  and  main- 
tained the  principle  of  free  trade.  Saint-Just,  while  admitting 
freedom  in  the  circulation  of  grain,  maintained  that  the  cause  of 
the  evil  was  the  multiplication  of  assignats,  which  amounted  at 
that  time  to  two  and  one  half  billions;  that  the  token  of  value, 


1792.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVL  357 

paper-money,  should  represent  only  the  products  of  agriculture  and 
manufactures,  and  not  the  wealth  of  the  soil ;  and  he  proposed  that 
the  impost  upon  land  should  be  paid  in  kind,  in  provisions  (Novem- 
ber 29). 

This  proposition  was  retrogressive  and  impracticable;  whatever 
might  have  been  the  danger  from  the  assignats,  to  suppress  them 
would  have  been  to  disarm  the  Republic  and  to  arrest  the  great 
war  of  the  Revolution. 

Saint-Just  did  not  see  the  consequences  of  what  he  proposed. 
Robespierre  urged  him  on  to  oppose  Cambou,  the  defender  and 
propagator  of  the  assignats,  who  directed  the  financial  committee 
of  the  Convention,  and  thereby  ruled  the  ministry  of  finance,  and 
in  great  measure  the  policy  of  the  Republic.  Robespierre  and  the 
commune  strove,  at  any  price,  to  overthrow  this  energetic  and  in- 
flexible man,  who  obstinately  attacked  the  commune  for  its  delin- 
quencies, who  feared  no  one,  and  called  all  parties  to  account 

The  Gironde  to  the  fault  of  not  conciliating  Danton  added  that 
of  not  sustaining  Cambon.  He  knew  how  to  defend  himself.  To 
those  who  were  seeking  to  put  down  the  assignats  and  to  thwart 
the  war  operations,  to  Robespierre,  who  wished,  as  he  said,  that 
"  wise  limits  should  be  fixed  to  military  enterprises,"  Cambon  re- 
plied by  proposing  to  the  Convention  the  great  decree  of  which  we 
have  spoken  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  decree  upon  the  revo- 
lutionary war  and  upon  republican  organization,  to  be  promulgated 
wherever  French  arms  should  penetrate.  All  were  carried  away; 
the  Mountain  and  the  Gironde  voted  together;  the  enemies  of 
Cambon  were  silenced  (December  15). 

This  decree  of  December  15  had  an  immense  effect  on  the  public. 
Henceforth  New  France  was  found  more  and  more  in  the  armies 
rather  than  in  the  communes  and  the  clubs.  Therein  was  destined 
first  to  be  its  safety  and  afterward  its  peril. 

The  trial  of  Louis  XVI.  had  been  somewhat  delayed,  owing  to 
the  discovery  of  the  "  iron  closet,"  a  hiding-place  found  at  the 
Tuileries,  and  in  which  Louis  XVI.  had  locked  up  his  most  secret 
papers.  Time  was  required  to  examine  these  documents. 


358  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

The  debates  of  the  Convention  and  the  delays  of  the  trial 
attracted  more  and  more  attention  to  the  Temple  prison.  The 
Legislative  Assembly,  in  consenting  that  Louis  XVI.  should  be 
imprisoned  in  the  Temple,  had  understood  that  he  was  to  occupy 
the  habitable  buildings  of  this  enclosure.  The  commune,  pretend- 
ing that  he  could  not  be  securely  guarded  there,  had  placed  him 
with  his  family  in  the  old  donjon  of  the  Templars,  scarce  inhabited 
for  centuries.  They  had  hastily  arranged  this  inconvenient  and 
gloomy  abode,  which  the  dethroned  king  and  his  family  never 
quitted,  save  to  walk  for  a  few  moments  in  a  sort  of  barren  and 
sombre  field,  enclosed  within  high  walls,  under  the  eye  of  the 
municipal  officers. 

The  Convention  had  provided  suitably  for  the  wants  of  the  royal 
family  by  a  vote  of  five  hundred  thousand  livres ;  but  the  com- 
mune, always  fearful  of  attempts  at  flight,  subjected  the  captives 
to  an  incessant  and  vexatious  surveillance,  whose  cruelty  was  aggra- 
vated still  more  by  the  brutal  behavior  of  subaltern  agents.  Gross 
and  envious  natures  find  a  cruel  pleasure  in  humiliating  fallen 
grandeur ;  but  the  contrary  effect  was  produced  upon  a  number  of 
the  municipal  functionaries  and  the  national  guards,  who,  day  after 
day,  had  charge  of  the  Temple.  When  they  saw  Louis  XVI.  in  his 
apartments  with  his  wife,  his  sister,  and  his  two  children,  dividing 
his  time  between  prayer  and  reading  and  the  education  of  his  son, 
he  whom  the  Jacobins  called  "  the  tyrant "  appeared  to  them  only 
the  good  father  of  a  pious,  inoffensive,  and  patient  family,  and  their 
stories  awakened  pity  everywhere  for  the  ci-devant  king. 

On  the  3d  and  5th  of  December  the  Alsatian  deputy  Eiihl  read 
to  the  Convention  a  report  upon  the  papers  found  in  the  "iron 
closet."  Although  there  were  constant  allusions  therein  to  the 
king's  relations  with  intriguing  men  who  promised  him  to  gain 
over  the  principal  deputies  and  the  leaders  of  the  clubs,  there 
was  not  the  least  proof  against  Danton  nor  against  any  influen- 
tial personage  of  the  Constituent  or  Legislative  Assembly,  with 
one  exception,  Mirabeau.  The  revelation  of  Mirabeau's  compact 
with  the  court  produced  a  terrible  effect.  The  Jacobins  broke  the 


1792.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  359 

bust  of  Mirabeau  in  their  club,  and  at  the  same  time  Robespierre 
incited  them  to  shatter  that  of  Helvetius,  one  of  the  philosophers 
whose  statues  adorned  the  club-rooms.  Robespierre  wished  to 
strike  down  Helvetius  as  the  apostle  of  egotism  and  of  material- 
ism. The  Convention  without  delay  caused  the  remains  of  Mira- 
beau to  be  removed  from  the  Pantheon. 

December  3  Robespierre  repeated  before  the  Convention  the 
proposition  of  Saint- Just.  "  We  have  no  need  to  sentence  Louis," 
he  said ;  "  he  is  already  condemned.  "We  have  only  to  execute  the 
decree.  I  have  demanded  the  abolition  of  the  death-penalty ;  this 
is  the  only  legitimate  exception;  Louis  should  die,  because  the 
country  must  live." 

Robespierre  was  destined  to  make  many  more  exceptions  to  his 
principle  in  regard  to  the  abolition  of  the  death-penalty. 

The  Convention  rejected  the  project  of  Robespierre  and  Saint- 
Just,  to  execute  the  king  without  form  of  trial,  and  decided  itself  to 
try  him.  On  the  10th  and  llth  of  September  the  two  reporters 
of  a  new  commission  instructed  to  draw  up  the  indictment,  the 
Mountaineer  Robert  Lindet  and  the  Girondist  Barbaroux,  read,  the 
first  a  historical  statement  of  the  ex-king's  conduct  since  1789,  and 
the  second  the  indictment. 

December  11  Louis  XVI.  was  brought  to  the  bar  of  the  Con- 
vention. 

It  was  the  second  time  in  Europe  within  a  century  and  a  half 
that  a  king  deposed  from  power  appeared  before  the  tribunal  of  a 
victorious  republic.  But  the  attitude  of  Louis  XVI.  was  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  Charles  I.  The  latter,  haughty,  incensed,  and 
defying  his  judges,  had  always  maintained  the  tone  and  bearing  of 
a  king  before  those  whom  he  called  his  rebellious  subjects.  Louis 
XVI.,  although  retaining  the  same  feeling  in  the  depths  of  his  soul, 
let  nothing  of  it  appear,  and  bore  himself  like  a  prisoner  before  an 
ordinary  court  of  justice. 

For  the  dignity  of  his  memory  he  assumed  too  much  the  role  of 
an  ordinary  defendant,  denying,  even  against  evidence,  the  words, 
deeds,  and  writings  which  compromised  him.  His  defence,  if  not 


360  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

devoid  of  a  certain  ability,  was  lacking  in  nobleness.  Louis  did  not 
command  respect ;  but  the  sternest  could  not  refuse  him  their  pity, 
when  they  saw  this  heir  of  eight  centuries  of  royalty,  pale,  ema- 
ciated, humble  and  resigned,  in  his  common  habiliments,  despoiled 
of  the  last  insignia  of  his  ancient  grandeur. 

Marat  himself  confessed  in  his  journal  that  he  was  moved. 

The  people  seemed  to  have  the  same  impression ;  almost  every- 
where they  kept  silence  as  the  ci-devant  king  passed.  The  Moun- 
tain journal,  the  "  Ee volutions  of  Paris,"  rebuked  the  cruelty  of  the 
commune,  which  had  too  soon  deprived  Louis  of  the  society  of 
his  son.  The  Convention  ordered  the  restoration  of  his  children 
to  the  accused,  a  mitigation  of  his  lot  of  which  he  was  unwilling  to 
take  advantage,  since  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  separate  the 
children  from  their  mother  and  aunt,  with  whom  Louis  could  not 
communicate  until  the  interrogatories  were  ended. 

On  several  occasions  the  Convention  was  obliged  to  interpose  its 
authority  to  prevent  the  commune  from  aggravating  by  new  and 
more  odious  annoyances  the  lamentable  position  of  the  royal  family. 
The  most  violent  members  of  the  Mountain  party  refused  to  coun- 
tenance these  insults  of  the  commune.  Eobespierre,  however,  sup- 
ported it  in  everything.  • 

The  Convention  authorized  Louis  XVI.  to  choose  counsel.  He 
chose  Target,  or,  in  default  of  him,  Tronchet.  These  were  two  of 
the  most  celebrated  lawyers  of  the  Constituent  Assembly.  Target 
excused  himself  on  the  plea  of  age  and  ill  health.  Tronchet,  though 
much  older,  declared  that  it  was  his  duty,  as  an  attorney,  to  accept. 
Another  illustrious  old  man,  Malesherbes,  the  former  colleague  of 
Turgot  in  the  ministry,  wrote  to  the  president  of  the  Convention : 
"  I  have  twice  been  summoned  to  the  councils  of  him  who  was  my 
master  in  times  when  all  the  world  aspired  to  the  post.  I  owe 
him  the  same  service  now  that  all  men  regard  it  perilous."  Louis 
XVI.  gratefully  accepted  the  assistance  of  this  venerable  man,  and 
the  Convention  authorized  Malesherbes  to  associate  himself  with 
Tronchet. 

It  declined  analogous  offers  from  many  other  persons,  among 


1792.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  361 

whom  were  former  ministers  and  former  members  of  the  Constitu- 
ent Assembly.  Keeker  sent  from  Geneva  a  vehement  memorial  in 
favor  of  Louis  XVI.  A  woman,  frivolous  and  whimsical,  but  of  an 
original  mind  and  a  generous  heart,  who  since  1789  had  made  con- 
siderable noise  in  the  popular  assemblies,  Olympe  de  Gouges,  asked 
to  be  associated  with  Malesherbes.  "  What  matters  my  sex  ? "  she 
wrote  to  the  president  of  the  Convention.  "  Heroism  and  generosity 
are  also  the  inheritance  of  woman,  and  of  this  the  Revolution  offers 
more  than  one  example.  To  kill  a  king,  it  is  not  enough  to  behead 
him;  he  lives  after  his  death.  But  he  is  truly  dead  when  he  sur- 
vives his  fall."  This  courageous  act  subsequently  cost  Olympe  de 
Gouges  her  life. 

The  great  trial  did  not  absorb  the  whole  attention  of  the  Assem- 
bly. Discussions  of  the  utmost  importance  mingled  with  the  de- 
bates relative  to  Louis  XVI.  Sometimes  they  related  to  the  dear- 
ness  of  grain  and  to  domestic  disturbances ;  sometimes  to  the  war 
and  the  relations  of  the  French  Republic  with  foreign  princes  and 
peoples  ;  and  again  to  the  great  subject  of  national  education,  which 
called  for  calmer  minds  and  less  terrible  moments.  A  general  plan 
of  public  instruction,  drawn  up  by  Talleyrand,  had  been  bequeathed 
by  the  Constituent  to  the  Legislative  Assembly ;  a  second  plan,  the 
work  of  Condorcet,  and  which  modified  the  first,  had  been  be- 
queathed by  the  Legislative  Assembly  to  the  Convention ;  a  special 
plan  of  primary  instruction,  whose  basis  was  borrowed  from  Con- 
dorcet's  scheme,  was  presented  to  the  Convention  by  its  committee 
of  public  instruction,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Rolands  and  their 
friends. 

The  report  of  the  committee  gave  rise  to  animated  discussions. 
The  Girondists,  like  the  Constituents  before  them,  saw  in  primary 
instruction  only  the  first  round  of  the  ladder  of  learning.  Robes- 
pierre pretended  that  this  first  step  was  the  only  step,  and  that  all 
children,  without  distinction,  not  only  of  fortune  but  of  intelligence, 
should  receive  the  same  education.  He  sacrificed  to  a  narrow  and 
false  conception  of  equality  the  interests  of  science,  of  the  fine  arts, 
and  of  social  progress. 


362  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

We  shall  return  to  this  subject,  upon  which  no  immediate  de- 
cision was  made.  We  will  only  observe  that  primary  instruction 
according  to  the  plan  of  the  Girondists  was  to  be  gratuitous  and 
secular.  The  different  faiths  were  to  be  taught  in  the  churches, 
and  not  in  the  schools. 

A  lively  debate  upon  the  salary  of  priests  was  coincident  with 
this  matter  of  primary  instruction.  Cambon,  who  was  in  favor  of 
the  separation  of  church  and  state,  and  who  sought  resources 
everywhere  for  the  war,  had  proposed  to  suppress  the  large  sum 
which  the  state  appropriated  for  payment  of  the  constitutional 
clergy.  Each  citizen  was  to  contribute  as  he  wished  to  the  support 
of  his  own  mode  of  worship. 

This  proposition  caused  much  stir  in  the  country,  where  a  re- 
port spread  that  the  Convention  was  about  to  abolish  religious 
worship.  The  "  Kevolutions  of  Paris  "  sustained  Cambon  from  the 
standpoint  of  principle ;  but  the  Jacobin  Club,  although  grown  more 
and  more  violent,  judged  the  project  impolitic.  Danton  and  Robes- 
pierre  declared  themselves  against  it.  Danton  said  that  he  recog- 
nized no  other  God  than  the  God  of  the  universe,  and  no  other 
worship  than  that  of  justice  and  liberty ;  but  that,  so  long  as  intel- 
ligence had  not  penetrated  to  the  cottages,  it  would  be  barbarous  to 
seek  to  deprive  the  people  of  men  in  whom  they  could  still  find  a 
little  consolation. 

Robespierre  declared  that  there  was  no  need  of  alienating  the 
constitutional  clergy  from  the  Republic ;  that,  furthermore,  it  was 
the  rich  who  could  do  without  religion,  leaving  the  poor  to  support 
alone  the  costs  of  worship.  In  a  remarkable  document  he  gave 
a  hint  of  his  true  idea,  which  was  to  maintain  public  worship  by 
gradually  transforming  Catholicism  into  a  Christian  deism.  "  If," 
said  he,  "  the  declaration  of  the  rights  of  mankind  were  rent  in 
pieces  by  tyranny,  we  should  find  it  again  in  the  gospel." 

The  Convention  did  not  adopt  Cambon's  proposition. 

The  Girondists  were  not  deeply  interested  in  this  affair  of  the 
clergy ;  but  a  new  quarrel  broke  out  between  them  and  the  Moun- 
tain party  upon  a  personal  question.  December  16,  the  Mountain- 


1792.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  363 

eer  Thuriot  having  demanded  the  death-penalty  against  every 
individual  who  should  attack  the  unity  of  the  Republic,  the  motion 
passed  unanimously;  but  the  Girondist  Buzot  immediately  after 
proposed  the  banishment  of  all  the  members  of  the  Bourbon  fam- 
ily, and  especially  of  Philippe  £galite  and  his  sons,  as  a  necessary 
result  of.  the  trial  of  Louis  XVI.  He  maintained  that  the  misfor- 
tune of  being  born  near  the  throne  condemned  them  to  exile,  and 
that  a  republic  could  not  without  peril  suffer  princes  in  its  midst. 
The  prodigious  although  embarrassed  fortune  possessed  by  Egalite 
and  his  wife,  the  relations  of  this  prince  with  a  mob  of  agitators, 
and  the  efforts  of  his  young  sons  to  render  themselves  popular  in 
the  army,  inspired  many  patriots  with  sincere  and  grave  appre- 
hensions. 

Saint-Just  approved  of  the  motion ;  he  wished  the  Mountain 
party  to  be  free  from  the  suspicion  of  connivance  with  Philippe 
of  Orleans,  but  he  ended,  as  usual,  by  recriminations  against 
the  Gironde.*  Other  Mountaineers  began  to  cry  out  that  if  the 
former  prince  Egalite  were  banished,  the  minister  Roland  must  be 
banished  also.  The  Mountain,  in  general,  protested  against  Buzot's 
motion. 

To  banish  a  representative  of  the  people  was  a  grave  matter;  the 
Convention  hesitated.  The  Jacobins,  the  leaders  of  the  sections, 
and  the  commune  took  up  the  defence  of  ^Igalite,  and  pretended  that 
the  object  of  those  who  wished  to  expel  him  was  only  to  attack, 
after  him,  other  Parisian  deputies.  After  a  long  and  violent  discus- 
sion, Petion,  who  willingly  assumed  the  role  of  mediator,  induced 
the  Convention  to  postpone  this  proposition  of  banishment  until 
after  the  trial  of  the  king  (December  19). 

The  trial  went  on.  Louis  XVI.  had  few  illusions  as  to  the  result. 
On  Christmas  day,  December  25,  he  drew  up  his  will,  which  remains 
celebrated  in  history.  In  the  presence  of  death  he  rose  above 
himself;  whatever  was  commonplace  in  him  disappeared;  his  last 
written  document  seems  already  marked  with  that  imposing  char- 
acter and  that  mysterious  serenity  which  death  imprints  upon  the 
visage  of  man. 


364  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

Louis  manifests  in  his  will  a  profound  religious  sentiment,  ex- 
pressed in  that  Catholic  form  to  which  he  was  so  much  attached 
and  for  which  he  had  borne  so  many  conflicts. 

"  I  pardon  with  all  my  heart/'  says  he,  "  those  who  have  become 
my  enemies  without  my  having  given  them  any  cause  to  be  so,  and 
I  pray  God  to  pardon  them,  as  well  as  those  who  through  .mistaken 
zeal  have  done  me  much  harm." 

The  pardon  he  granted  his  enemies  was  not  a  commonplace 
formula,  but  the  expression  of  a  most  sincere  feeling.  He  really 
believed  that  he  had  given  no  one  in  France  legitimate  cause  for 
resentment.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  he  embraced  in  his  par- 
don the  revolutionists  who  were  about  to  consummate  his  fall,  and 
the  emigrants  who  had  paved  the  way  for  it. 

"  I  entreat  my  wife,"  he  wrote,  "  to  forgive  me  all  the  ills  she  has 
suffered  on  my  account,  and  the  sorrows  I  must  have  caused  her,  as 
she  may  be  assured  that  I  harbor  no  resentment  against  her,  if  she 
believes  she  has  anything  for  which  to  reproach  herself. 

"  I  counsel  my  son,  if  he  should  ever  have  the  misfortune  to 
become  a  king,  to  consider  it  his  duty  to  forget  all  hatred  and 
resentment,  and  especially  all  that  relates  to  the  sufferings  which 
I  have  endured.  I  forewarn  him  that  he  can  secure  the  happiness 
of  his  people  only  by  ruling  in  accordance  with  the  laws,  and  that 
a  king  can  make  the  laws  respected,  and  do  the  good  which  is  in 
his  heart,  only  so  far  as  he  has  the  requisite  authority.  And  finally, 
I  declare  before  God,  being  ready  to  appear  before  him,  that  I  do 
not  reproach  myself  with  any  of  the  crimes  laid  to  my  charge." 

On  reading  this  will,  which  inspires  us  with  sympathy  and  re- 
spect, we  are  surprised  and  troubled  to  see  that  Louis  believes 
himself  absolutely  without  reproach  before  God.  The  reason  is  that 
those  of  his  acts  which  are  culpable  in  the  eyes  of  posterity  were 
not  so  in  his  own  sight.  The  ultramontane  priests  who  ruled  his 
conscience  had  accustomed  him  to  believe  dissimulation  allowable 
toward  the  enemies  of  the  church  and  the  crown.  The  equivocal 
maxims  of  the  Jesuit  casuists  had  not  destroyed,  but  had  impaired, 
in  him  the  moral  grandeur  of  the  evangelical  Christian. 


1792.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  365 

The  next  day  Louis  XVI.  again  appeared  before  the  Convention. 
Tronchet  and  Malesherbes,  the  two  old  men  who  had  undertaken 
his  defence,  had  obtained  the  assistance  of  a  young  and  talented 
advocate,  Deseze. 

This  advocate  eloquently  and  courageously  pleaded  the  great 
cause  which  had  been  confided  to  him.  He  began  by  declaring  that 
Louis  had  not  for  an  instant  dreamed  $>f  taking  exception  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Convention;  but  he  endeavored  to  prove  to  the 
latter  that  it  could  not  condemn  the  dethroned  king,  and  that  it 
was  impossible  to  apply  to  him  any  other  laws  than  those  of  the 
Constitution  of  1791.  The  Constitution,  so  far  as  the  king  was 
concerned,  and  even  in  the  most  extreme  case,  pronounced  no  other 
penalty  than  deposition.  Deseze  was  especially  forcible  in  showing 
that  the  exceptional  course  pursued  by  the  Convention  deprived 
Louis  of  every  guaranty  which  the  new  legislation  accorded  to  all 
accused  persons. 

"  Citizens,"  said  he  to  the  members  of  the  Convention,  "  I  look 
for  judges  among  you,  and  I  find  only  accusers.  You  wish  to  decide 
the  fate  of  Louis,  and  it  is  yourselves  who  accuse  him.  You  wish 
to  decide  the  king's  fate,  and  you  have  expressed  your  opinion  in 
advance." 

Deseze  discussed  with  much  warmth  and  adroitness  the  long 
series  of  charges  brought  against  Louis  XVI.,  and  ably  defended  him 
on  the  point  concerning  which  the  clubs  made  the  most  noise,  that 
of  having  premeditated  the  massacre  of  the  people  on  the  10th  of 
August.  He  ended  with  a  touching  allusion  to  the  private  virtues, 
good  intentions,  ^,nd  benevolent  acts  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  appealed 
to  the  judgment  of  history.  Louis  added  a  few  words  to  the  able 
speech  of  his  counsel.  He  declared  that  his  conscience  reproached 
him  with  nothing;  and  he  protested  with  deep  emotion  against 
the  imputation  of  having  wished  to  shed  the  blood  of  his  people, 
and  of  having  been  the  author  of  the  calamities  of  the  10th  of 
August. 

Louis  was  sent  back  to  prison,  and  the  discussion  concerning 
his  fate  was  begun.  The  Breton  deputy,  Lanjuinais,  repeating  the 


366  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

words  of  Deseze,  said  that  the  Assembly  was  both  judge  and 
accuser.  He  demanded  that  the  decree  which  had  constituted 
the  Convention  a  court  of  justice  to  try  Louis  XVI.  should  be 
annulled,  and  that  his  fate  should  be  decided  with  a  view  to  the 
general  safety.  Couthon  refuted  Lanjuinais  by  arguing  that  if  the 
Legislative  Assembly  might  justly  be  regarded  incompetent  to  try 
the  king,  the  Convention,  «i  the  other  hand,  was  invested  with  full 
powers  by  the  people.  He  proposed  a  resolution  that  discussion 
was  in  order  on  the  trial  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  that  all  other  business 
should  be  suspended  until  sentence  was  passed. 

After  a  tumultuous  session,  attended  with  scenes  of  the  greatest 
violence,  the  Convention  decided  that  the  discussion  should  con- 
tinue without  interruption,  but  with  the  reservation  demanded  by 
Petion,  that  the  point  debated  between  Couthon  and  Lanjuinais 
should  not  be  decided.  The  Convention  did  not  doubt  the  right  of 
the  nation,  nor  its  own  right  as  the  nation's  representative,  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  the  deposed  king ;  but  many  of  the  members  had 
serious  doubts  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Assembly  was  mak- 
ing application  of  this  right,  by  withdrawing  from  Louis  the  royal 
privileges  conferred  upon  him  by  the  Constitution  of  1791,  without 
granting  him  in  exchange  the  guaranties  which  the  forms  of  ordi- 
nary justice  accord  to  all  citizens.  For  instance,  he  was  not  per- 
mitted to  take  exception  to  those  members  of  the  Convention  who 
still  persisted  in  declaring  him  guilty  in  advance. 

Those  who  wished  to  spare  the  life  of  Louis  XVI.  feared  lest  the 
Eevolution  might  have  the  appearance  of  recoiling  before  the  kings 
of  Europe,  if  the  Convention  surrendered  the  right  of  judgment 
after  having  claimed  it.  The  position  taken  by  Lanjuinais  was 
abandoned,  and  the  moderates  adopted  another  course.  Eoland 
circulated  a  printed  document  which  established  the  right  of  the 
people  to  pardon  the  king.  "How  can  the  people  exercise  this 
right,"  it  was  asked,  "  if  they  are  not  consulted  ? " 

At  the  following  session  (December  27)  the  Girondist  Salles 
proposed  that  the  Convention  should  only  decide  upon  the  guilt 
of  the  ex-king,  and  submit  to  the  people  the  choice  between 


1792.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  367 

two  penalties,  death  or  exile,  until  the  general  peace.  "  The 
kings,"  said  he,  "  wish  to  save,  not  Louis,  but  royalty ;  his  pun- 
ishment is  necessary  to  their  policy.  They  desire  his  death  in 
order  to  make  a  martyr  of  him ! "  It  is  certain  that  many  persons 
near  the  kings  and  among  the  emigrants  made  this  Machiavelian 
calculation. 

Nevertheless,  on  the  28th  of  December  a  reigning  king,  a  Bour- 
bon, attempted  a  diplomatic  intervention  in  favor  of  his  unhappy 
kinsman.  Charles  IV.,  king  of  Spain,  after  declaring  that  he  would 
remain  neutral  in  the  war  in  which  France  was  engaged,  sent  to  the 
French  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  through  the  Spanish  charge* 
d'affaires  in  Paris,  a  letter  which  was  communicated  to  the  Conven- 
tion. The  Spanish  diplomate  hinted  that  a  good  understanding 
between  the  two  nations  would  depend  upon  the  manner  in  which 
the  French  nation  dealt  with  Louis  XVI.  and  his  family ;  he  vehe- 
mently protested  against  the  conduct  of  the  trial  and  against  the 
treatment  inflicted  upon  the  ex-king,  and  demanded  of  the  gener- 
osity of  Frenchmen  that  Louis  XVI.  should  be  allowed  to  choose  a 
foreign  asylum. 

This  foreign  intervention  raised  lively  protests  in  the  Assembly, 
which,  without  taking  action  upon  the  letter,  passed  to  the  order  of 
the  day.  The  discussion  continued  upon  Salles's  proposition,  the 
appeal  to  the  people. 

This  proposition  was  fully  discussed.  Buzot  declared  that  he 
would  vote  for  the  death  of  the  king,  but  with  an  appeal  to  the 
people,  who  had  a  right  to  pardon  him.  Robespierre  replied  that 
to  submit  this  question  to  the  forty  thousand  primary  assemblies 
of  the  communes  of  France  would  be  to  overthrow  the  Republic 
and  let  loose  civil  war;  he  declared  that  the  Convention  would 
fail  in  its  duty  towards  the  people  which  had  confided  in  its 
wisdom  if  it  referred  this  terrible  decision  to  the  popular  voice 
through  its  own  lack  of  courage  to  render  it.  Vergniaud  replied 
to  Robespierre  in  one  of  his  most  magnificent  speeches.  He  de- 
clared that  the  people  who  through  the  Constitution  of  1791  had 
promised  inviolability  to  Louis  XVI.  alone  had  the  right  to  revoke 


368  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

that  promise,  and  maintained  that  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI. 
would  involve  France  in  a  universal  war.  Brissot  and  Gensonn^ 
sustained  Vergniaud.  Marat  came  to  the  aid  of  Eobespierre  by 
accusing  the  Girondists  of  seeking  to  promote  anarchy  by  an  appeal 
to  the  popular  voice.  The  Gironde  was  right  in  opposing  the  death 
of  Louis  XVL,  and  the  Mountain  was  also  right  in  opposing  an 
appeal  to  the  people.  Both  parties  maintained  their  opinions  with 
equal  ardor  and  with  equal  courage.  The  Girondists  were  inces- 
santly menaced  by  the  popular  leaders  and  insulted  by  the  turbulent 
habitues  of  the  clubs.  They  knew,  moreover,  that  if  the  Eepublic 
succumbed  they  would  be  the  first  victims  sent  to  the  gallows  by 
the  counter-revolutionists.  The  Mountaineers,  not  without  reason, 
believed  themselves  exposed  to  the  daggers  of  the  royalists,  who 
were  numerous  in  Paris,  and  they  had  a  profound  conviction  that 
they  were  devoting  themselves  and  their  families  to  the  implacable 
vengeance  of  all  kings  and  aristocrats.  But  neither  the  Eight  nor 
the  Left  of  the  Convention  knew  fear;  the  same  might  be  said 
of  the  Centre,  although  some  historians  have  pretended  that  this 
party  was  governed  only  by  terror. 

Everything  depended  upon  the  Centre :  the  life  or  death  of  Louis 
XVL,  the  victory  or  defeat  of  the  Gironde  or  the  Mountain. 

There  was  something  beside  fear  in  the  Centre ;  among  the  lead- 
ers there  was  a  certain  jealousy  of  the  Gironde,  which  prevented 
them  from  granting  an  exclusive  preponderance  to  that  party, 
although  at  heart  they  preferred  it  to  the  Mountain.  However, 
if  they  had  perceived  union,  discipline,  sustained  strength,  and  a 
defined  and  inflexible  will  in  the  Eight,  they  would  have  followed 
it ;  but  such  traits  did  not  exist  in  this  party,  composed  of  men  of 
ideas  and  not  of  action.  Madame  Eoland  well  knew  this ;  in  her 
Memoirs  she  clearly  points  out  the  inefficiency  of  her  friends,  and 
deplores  that  she  was  not  born  a  man. 

Barere,  the  most  influential  orator  of  the  Centre,  summed  up 
the  discussion  in  a  carefully  prepared  speech,  concluding  with  an 
argument  against  an  appeal  to  the  people.  This  indicated  the  ten- 
dency of  the  majority.  It  was  the  4th  of  January.  The  terrible 


1793.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  369 

year  1793  had  begun.  The  discussion  closed  on  the  7th  of  January, 
and  the  putting  of  the  decisive  questions  was  adjourned  to  the  14th. 

The  agitation  was  extreme  in  the  Assembly  and  in  Paris.  A 
considerable  number  of  volunteers  came  to  Paris  to  form  a  part  of 
that  guard  for  the  Convention,  so  much  talked  of  but  not  yet  organ- 
ized. January  13  a  deputation  of  Marseillais  and  of  other  new  con- 
federates came  to  ask  the  Convention  "  to  be  allowed  to  unite  with 
the  citizens  of  Paris  in  protecting  the  representatives  of  the  French 
people.  The  men  of  September  2  may  appear,"  said  the  orator  of 
the  confederates ;  "  they  will  find  themselves  confronted  by  the  men 
of  the  10th  of  August!" 

Energetic  measures  were  repeatedly  proposed  to  the  Assembly 
for  the  restoration  of  order  in  Paris.  Manuel,  the  ex-procureur  of 
the  commune,  now  wholly  gone  over  to  the  Girondists,  demanded 
a  police  guard  against  the  tribunes,  who  continually  interrupted 
the  Assembly's  debates  by  applause  or  hootings.  Some  deputies 
demanded  the  abolition  of  the  permanency  of  the  sections  which 
delivered  Paris  over  to  the  rule  of  a  handful  of  agitators.  Others 
besought  the  Convention  to  take  in  hand  the  police  of  Paris. 
These  grave  and  wise  propositions  were  much  discussed,  but  noth- 
ing was  decided.  Eoland,  the  minister  of  the  interior,  wore  himself 
out  in  vain  remonstrances. 

The  majority  was  annihilated.  The  true  cause  of  this  powerless- 
ness  was  that  the  rupture  had  become  complete  between  the  men 
of  theory,  the  Girondists,  and  the  men  of  action,  without  whom  they 
could  not  direct  the  Revolution. 

About  the  end  of  November  Danton  made  a  last  effort  at  recon- 
ciliation. Vergniaud  inclined  toward  him,  to  the  great  displeasure 
of  Madame  Eoland,  who  was  carried  away  by  her  aversion  to  Dan- 
ton.  Brissot,  Condorcet,  and  Petion  were  believed  to  sympathize 
with  Vergniaud.  The  man  who  was  especially  inspired  with  Ma- 
dame Eoland's  ideas,  the  inflexible  Buzot,  the  fiery  Barbaroux  also, 
and  several  of  the  Bordeaux  deputies,  had  contrary  sentiments. 
There  was  a  secret  interview  at  night  in  the  environs  of  Sceaux 
between  Danton  and  several  of  the  Girondists.  We  are  ignorant 

24 


370  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

of  the  details  of  this  interview ;  we  only  know  that  one  of  the  Bor- 
deaux deputies,  the  rude  and  caustic  Guadet,  played  there  a  fatal 
role. 

"  Guadet,"  cried  Danton,  "  you  are  wrong ;  you  do  not  know  how 
to  pardon !  You  do  not  know  how  to  sacrifice  your  resentment  to 
your  country !  You  are  obstinate,  and  you  will  perish ! " 

Guadet,  in  fact,  was  destined  to  perish,  and  his  friends  with  him ; 
and  so  were  Danton  and  his  friends,  along  with  liberty.  It  was 
this  night  that  really  decided  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.  and  the 
advent  of  the  Eeign  of  Terror. 

Danton  as  well  as  the  Girondists  was  averse  to  the  king's  death. 
It  is  believed  that  he  had  promised  the  wife  he  fondly  loved,  and 
who  was  suffering  from  a  fatal  malady,  to  save  Louis  XVI.  and 
his  family.  One  day  at  the  club  of  the  Cordeliers  he  let  fall  a 
sentence  that  savored  of  clemency :  "  A  nation  should  save,  but  not 
avenge  itself ! " 

After  the  interview  at  Sceaux,  having  been  unable  to  come  to 
an  understanding  with  the  Girondists,  he  felt  that  the  cause  of 
moderation  and  humanity  was  lost.  He  obtained  from  the  Con- 
vention a  mission  to  Belgium,  where  there  were  great  interests  at 
this  moment  at  stake,  and  departed  on  the  1st  of  December,  over- 
whelmed with  sadness,  leaving  behind  him  his  dying  wife,  and  the 
Convention  a  prey  to  hopeless  discord. 

He  was  forced,  however,  to  return  at  the  vital  moment.  A  decree 
of  the  Convention  recalled  those  representatives  who  were  absent 
on  missions,  that  they  might  participate  in  the  vote  upon  the  fate 
of  Louis  XVI. 

January  14,  after  a  confused  and  stormy  debate,  the  Girondist 
Fonfrede  put  the  following  questions :  — 

"  Is  Louis  guilty  ?  Shall  the  verdict,  whatever  it  may  be,  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  ratification  of  the  people  ?  What  punishment  has 
Louis  incurred  ? " 

The  call  of  the  roll  took  place  on  the  15th  upon  the  first  ques- 
tion. Of  the  seven  hundred  and  twenty-one  members  present,  six 
hundred  and  eighty-three  answered  yes,  without  comment ;  twenty- 


1793.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  371 

five  answered  yes,  with  remarks,  the  greater  part  of  the  latter  de- 
claring themselves  legislators  and  not  judges.  Thirteen  refused  to 
vote,  or  were  challenged.  One  of  the  last,  Noel  des  Vosges,  said 
that,  his  son  having  died  on  the  frontier  in  defence  of  the  country, 
he  could  not  be  a  judge  of  the  man  who  was  regarded  as  the  prime 
author  of  his  death. 

There  was  almost  entire  unanimity  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  ex-king. 
The  Convention  declared  Louis  Capet  guilty  of  conspiracy  against 
the  liberty  of  the  nation  and  the  safety  of  the  state.  The  sur- 
name of  the  Capet  family,  which  had  ruled  for  eight  centuries 
over  France,  had  been  given  the  fallen  king  as  a  family  name. 

Upon  the  second  question  the  Gironde  was  divided.  Vergniaud, 
Buzot,  Guadet,  Brissot,  Valaze,  Barbaroux,  and  Petion  voted  for  an 
appeal  to  the  people;  Condorcet,  Isnard,  the  two  brothers-in-law 
Ducos  and  Fonfrede,  voted  against  it.  The  speech  of  Barere,  sup- 
ported by  the  influence  of  Sieyes,  had  decided  the  greater  portion 
of  the  Centre.  An  appeal  to  the  people  was  rejected  by  four  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four  votes  against  two  hundred  and  eighty-three. 

The  same  day  an  article  from  Manuel,  published  in  Brissot's 
journal,  said  that  the  last  king  of  France  should  be  sent,  not  to 
the  scaffold,  but  to  the  United  States  of  America,  there  to  behold 
the  spectacle  of  a  sovereign  people. 

The  third  and  terrible  question  remained, — "What  shall  be  the 
punishment  ?  " 

Paris  was  in  a  ferment.  The  prisons  were  said  to  be  menaced 
anew.  The  commune  had  obtained  from  Pache,  the  minister  of 
war,  successor  to  Servan,  and  in  league  with  the  Jacobins,  the  re- 
moval of  a  park  of  artillery  from  Saint-Denis  to  Paris,  and  the 
distribution  of  cannon  among  the  sections.  Timid  people  left  the 
city.  The  more  violent  demanded  the  closing  of  the  barriers  to 
prevent  this  "  desertion." 

On  the  morning  of  the  16th  the  Convention  received  from  Po- 
land, the  minister  of  the  interior,  a  most  forcible  letter  against  those 
who  proposed  to  close  the  gates,  only  to  retain  and  to  choose  their 
victims.  He  denounced  the  incendiary  decrees  of  several  sections 


372  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

and  the  sanguinary  doctrines  advocated  in  the  clubs.  "  I  have  no 
more  power  to-day  than  on  the  2d  of  September,"  he  wrote.  "I 
can  do  little  but  set  an  example  by  designating,  and  defying  to  the 
last  moment,  my  own  executioners.  It  is  for  the  Convention  to 
do  more,  to  insure  the  public  safety."  Several  deputies  sustained 
Eoland's  letter  by  reporting  the  menaces  they  had  heard  against  the 
Convention  itself. 

It  was  decreed  that  hereafter  the  confederates,  with  the  army 
corps  of  Paris,  should  share  the  guard  of  the  Assembly ;  and  yet, 
upon  tidings  that  the  municipality  was  keeping  the  barriers  open, 
and  that  the  streets  were  tranquil,  Lacroix,  the  friend  of  Danton, 
caused  the  rejection  of  Gensonne's  proposition,  that  the  right  of 
placing  the  armed  force  in  direct  requisition  should  be  transferred 
from  the  municipality  to  the  ministry  of  the  interior. 

Danton  had  arrived.  The  question  with  him  was  settled.  Driven 
to  despair,  he  had  resolved  on  his  course,  and  with  all  the  violence 
of  his  temperament  had  thrown  himself  into  the  front  rank  of  the 
ultraists.  Lanjuinais  demanded  that  the  fate  of  Louis  should  be 
decided  by  a  majority  of  three  fourths  of  the  votes.  Danton  car- 
ried the  resolution  that  the  decree  relative  to  Louis  should  be  passed 
by  a  simple  majority,  like  the  ordinary  decrees  of  the  Assembly. 

It  was  eight  in  the  evening.  The  call  for  the  third  question 
began.  A  Girondist  had  obtained  the  decision  that  each  delegate 
should  give  his  verdict  verbally  at  the  tribune,  and  a  Mountaineer 
that  each  should  subscribe  to  his  vote.  In  both  parties  every  man 
accepted  the  full  responsibility  of  his  acts. 

The  first  delegate  called  upon  was  the  Mountaineer  Mailhe.  He 
voted  for  death,  but  added  that  if  the  majority  should  declare  for 
this  extreme  penalty,  he  thought  that  it  would  be  advisable  for  the 
Convention  to  discuss  the  feasibility  of  delaying  the  execution. 

After  twenty  had  voted,  the  greater  part  for  death,  Vergniaud's 
turn  came.  He  mounted  the  tribune  with  a  heavy  heart.  He  said 
that,  having  become  convinced  of  Louis's  guilt,  and  an  appeal  to 
the  people  having  been  rejected  by  the  Convention,  he  was  not  at 
liberty  to  hesitate  concerning  the  penalty.  "  The  law  pronounces," 


1793.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVI.  373 

said  he ;  "  it  is  death :  but  in  uttering  this  terrible  word,  anxious 
for  the  fate  of  my  country,  apprehensive  of  the  dangers  that  menace 
liberty  and  the  blood  that  may  be  shed,  I  express  the  same  wish  as 
Mailhe,  and  I  ask  that  it  be  submitted  to  a  deliberation  of  the 
Assembly."  The  law  referred  to  by  Vergniaud  was  that  which 
punished  high  treason  with  death.  He  hoped  that  the  execution, 
once  delayed,  would  not  take  place. 

Guadet,  Buzot,  Petion,  and  Valaze  voted  with  Vergniaud.  Louvet 
and  Brissot  voted  for  death,  with  a  reprieve  until  the  people  should 
have  accepted  the  Constitution.  Barbaroux,  Isnard,  Lasource,  Ducos, 
and  Fonfrede  voted  unconditionally  for  death.  Condorcet,  Kersaint, 
Salles,  Manuel,  Rabaut-Saint-Etienne,  Lanjuinais,  and  Thomas  Paine 
voted  for  other  penalties  than  death,  —  imprisonment,  banishment, 
etc. ;  Gensonue,  for  death,  but  on  condition  that  the  assassins  of 
September  2  should  be  executed  at  the  same  time.  A  few  of  those 
who  voted  for  imprisonment  with  banishment  until  a  general  peace 
uttered  prophetic  sayings :  "  You  will  make  a  saint  and  martyr  of 
him  !  You  will  have,  as  in  England,  a  Cromwell  or  a  Charles  II. ! " 

They  were  to  have  both,  —  Bonaparte  and  Louis  XVIII. 

Sieyes  and  Barere,  the  two  prime  movers  of  the  Centre,  voted  for 
death.  The  whole  Mountain  party  save  one  or  two  voted  for  death 
without  restriction,  Danton  as  well  as  Robespierre. 

Two  eminent  patriots  who  belonged  to  no  party,  the  calm  Carnot 
and  the  impetuous  Cambon,  voted  for  death.  They  were  not  influ- 
enced by  passion,  or  by  the  interests  of  internal  policy ;  the  appeal 
to  foreign  arms  was  to  them  the  one  unpardonable  crime.  "No 
duty  ever  cost  me  so  dear ! "  said  Carnot. 

Deep  attention  and  profound  silence  reigned  in  the  Assembly 
when  the  ex-Duke  of  Orleans,  Philippe  figalite,  appeared  at  the 
tribune.  He  read  his  vote  with  an  impassible  air :  "  Thinking  solely 
of  my  duty,  and  convinced  that  all  who  have  attacked  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  people  or  are  likely  to  do  so  deserve  to  die,  I  vote 
for  death." 

A  hollow  murmur  ran  through  the  hall  The  Mountain  party 
itself  did  not  demand  as  much  as  this  of  figalite,  and  all  had 


374  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

thought  he  would  abstain  from  casting  his  vote.  Neither  hatred 
nor  ambition  had  impelled  him  to  this  act.  He  had  sought  safety 
in  the  extreme  Left,  upon  the  highest  benches  of  the  Mountain,  and 
it  was  also  with  a  view  to  his  personal  safety,  that,  after  much 
hesitation,  he  had  decided  to  vote  for  the  death  of  the  head  of  his 
family.  He  believed  that  this  sanguinary  pledge  would  insure  him 
the  constant  protection  of  the  most  violent  party.  In  this  he  was 
deceived,  as  he  soon  had  proof. 

The  roll-call  did  not  end  until  the  17th  of  January  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening;  it  had  lasted  twenty-four  hours.  Vergniaud 
presided,  as  on  the  10th  of  August.  It  was  he,  who  pronounced  the 
sentence  of  Louis  XVI.,  as  he  had  lately  pronounced  his  suspension. 
In  grave,  sad  tones  he  announced  the  result  of  the  ballot :  — 

"  The  necessary  majority  is  three  hundred  and  sixty-one ;  three 
hundred  and  sixty -six  have  voted  for  death.  I  therefore  declare,  in 
the  name  of  the  National  Convention,  that  the  penalty  of  death  is 
decreed  against  Louis  Capet." 

The  defenders  of  Louis  XVI.  now  appeared,  and  appealed  in 
his  behalf  to  the  nation.  The  appeal  was  rejected,  the  question 
having  been  decided  in  advance.  The  Convention  adjourned  after 
a  session  of  thirty-seven  hours. 

The  next  day  the  votes  were  revised :  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  had  voted  for  other  penalties  than  death;  thirteen  for  death 
with  a  reprieve ;  twenty-six  for  death,  asking  a  deliberation  as  to 
whether  the  execution  might  not  be  deferred,  but  without  making 
it  a  condition  of  their  vote.  Adding  these  votes  to  the  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-one,  instead  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-six 
who,  according  to  Vergniaud,  voted  simply  for  death,  there  were 
three  hundred  and  eighty-seven  against  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
four.  Five  members  abstained  from  voting. 

A  large  number  of  churchmen,  who  were  members  of  the  Assem- 
bly, voted  for  death;  namely,  eighteen  constitutional  ecclesiastics 
and  three  Protestant  pastors.  Bishops  Gregoire  and  Fouchet  were 
not  of  this  number.  Fouchet,  while  affirming  his  republican  faith, 
vehemently  protested  against  the  sentence.  Gregoire  was  absent  on 


BARERE. 


1793.]  TRIAL  OF  LOUIS  XVL  375 

a  distant  mission.  A  violent  enemy  of  kings,  he  sent  his  vote  in 
writing  for  the  condemnation  of  Louis  XVI.,  but  not  for  his  death. 
"  My  religion,"  said  he,  "  forbids  me  to  shed  the  blood  of  my  fellow- 
men."  Two  deputies — the  Breton  Kersaint  and  the  former  pro- 
cureur  of  the  commune,  Manuel  —  sent  in  their  resignations. 

The  sessions  of  the  18th  and  19th  of  January  were  given  up  to  a 
long  and  stormy  debate  as  to,  whether  there  should  be  a  delay  of  the 
execution.  Many  who  had  voted  against  the  death-penalty,  or  who 
had  voted  for  it  reluctantly,  supported  the  proposal  for  delay.  Buzot, 
Brissot,  and  Condorcet  vehemently  repeated,  in  favor  of  a  reprieve, 
the  arguments  already  employed  in  support  of  an  appeal  to  the 
people.  Buzot  said  he  well  knew  to  what  rage  he  exposed  himself, 
but  that  he  was  ready  to  risk  his  life.  Brissot  still  more  forcibly 
renewed  his  assertion  that  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI.  would  arm 
the  general  opinion  of  Europe  against  France. 

Thomas  Paine,  the  famous  representative  of  the  idea  of  a  universal 
Eepublic,  had  voted  against  both  an  appeal  to  the  people  and  the 
penalty  of  death.  "  What  to-day  appears  to  us  an  act  of  justice," 
said  he,  "  will  some  day  appear  only  an  act  of  vengeance."  He 
argued  for  a  reprieve  until  the  meeting  of  another  Assembly. 
"  France,"  continued  he,  "  has  to-day  but  one  friend,  the  American 
Eepublic.  Do  not  give  the  United  States  the  sorrow,  and  the  king 
of  England  the  joy,  of  witnessing  the  death  upon  the  scaffold  of  the 
man  who  has  aided  my  American  brethren  in  breaking  the  fetters 
of  English  despotism." 

At  the  decisive  moment  Barere,  the  orator  of  the  Centre,  declared 
himself  opposed  to  a  reprieve,  as  he  had  been  to  an  appeal  to  the 
people.  The  Girondists  were  not  unanimous ;  Barbaroux  combated 
a  reprieve.  The  reprieve  was  rejected  by  three  hundred  and  eighty 
votes  against  three  hundred  and  ten,  there  being  fewer  votes  for 
reprieve  than  there  had  been  against  death. 

Steadfast  courage  was  needed  in  the  orators  opposed  to  the  king's 
execution  to  brave  the  rage  of  the  Jacobins ;  but  an  event  that  oc- 
curred on  the  20th  proved  that  there  was  also  danger  for  the  parti- 
sans of  the  opposite  side.  Several  deputies  had  received  anonymous 


376  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIII. 

letters  in  which  they  were  threatened  with  death,  together  with  their 
families,  if  they  voted  for  the  execution  of  the  king.  These  were 
not  vain  threats.  One  of  the  representatives  who  had  voted  for  the 
king's  execution,  Lepelletier  de  Saint-Fargeau,  an  ex-mernber  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris,  a  very  wealthy  and  benevolent  man  and  greatly 
devoted  to  the  popular  interests,  was  assassinated  at  the  Palais- 
£galite',  as  the  Palais-Eoyal  was  now  called,  by  an  old  body-guards- 
man named  Deparis.  The  latter  was  seeking  Philippe  Egalite  in 
order  to  kill  him ;  in  Philippe's  place  he  killed  the  first  one  of  the 
king's  judges  who  fell  into  his  hands. 

The  defenders  of  Louis  XVI.  had  borne  him  tidings' of  his  con- 
demnation. He  received  with  firmness  this  blow  for  which  he  was 
prepared,  raised  Malesherbes,  who  had  thrown  himself  in  tears  at 
his  feet,  embraced  him,  and  repeated  to  him  what  he  had  said  both 
in  his  will  and  before  the  Convention,  that  he  had  questioned  his 
conscience  in  vain  as  to  whether  he  deserved  the  slightest  reproach 
from  his  subjects.  Until  the  end,  therefore,  he  did  not  entertain 
the  smallest  doubt  of  the  lawfulness  of  all  his  actions. 

Malesherbes  told  him  that  all  hope  was  not  lost,  and  that  many 
of  his  faithful  subjects  had  sworn  to  wrest  him  from  the  hands  of 
the  executioners  or  to  perish  with  him.  "Thank  them  for  their 
zeal,"  replied  Louis,  "  but  tell  them  that  I  shall  not  forgive  them  if 
a  single  drop  of  blood  is  spilled  for  me." 

On  the  20th  the  council  of  ministers  came  to  announce  his  sen- 
tence to  the  royal  prisoner. 

The  Convention  authorized  Louis  XVI.  to  call  in  whatever  min- 
ister of  religion  he  might  choose,  and  to  have  free  intercourse  with 
his  family.  On  the  evening  of  the  20th  the  last  sad  interview  took 
place.  Marie  Antoinette,  Madame  Elizabeth  the  king's  sister,  the 
daughter  of  Louis  XVI.,  a  young  girl  of  fifteen  years,  who  was  after- 
wards the  Duchess  d'Angouleme,  and  his  son,  a  child  of  ten,  who  was 
destined  to  die  a  lingering  death  in  the  Temple,  were  brought  into 
the  presence  of  the  unhappy  head  of  the  family.  A  heart-rending 
scene  ensued.  The  queen  had  despised  her  husband  in  the  days  of 
their  prosperity ;  at  that  time  she  saw  only  his  faults ;  she  thought 


MADAME   ELIZABETH. 


1793.]  THE  TWENTY-FIRST  OF  JANUARY.  377 

him  destitute  of  courage  because  he  was  not  violent  like  herself, 
and  lacked  the  faculty  for  action :  but  when  she  saw  him  so  coura- 
geously resigned  in  the  presence  of  death,  so  kind  to  those  around 
him,  and  so  patient  in  the  most  terrible  trials,  her  love  rekindled 
with  all  the  impetuosity  of  her  nature;  and  this  love  at  once  soothed 
Louis's  last  days  and  rendered  his  separation  from  her  still  more 
cruel.  4 

Toward  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  Louis  sent  away  his  family, 
promising  to  see  them  again  the  next  day.  Exhausted  by  emotion, 
he  slept  profoundly  through  his  last  night.  January  21,  at  five  in 
the  morning,  a  refractory  Irish  priest  named  Edge  worth,  who  had 
remained  concealed  in  Paris,  and  who,  according  to  the  exceptional 
permission  of  the  Convention,  had  been  summoned  to  the  Temple, 
said  mass  in  presence  of  the  condemned  and  administered  to  him 
the  communion.  Louis  then  wished  to  recall  his  family.  The 
priest  persuaded  him  to  spare  them  this  sorrowful  farewell,  and  to 
think  only  of  his  personal  salvation.  • 

Santerre,  the  commander  of  the  national  guard,  appeared,  accom- 
panied by  two  delegates  from  the  commune.  Louis  retired  for  a 
few  moments  with  his  confessor,  after  which  he  said  to  Santerre, 
"  Let  us  go  ! "  He  entered  a  carriage  with  the  priest,  and  the  mel- 
ancholy cortege  set  out.  All  the  sectional  battalions  which  had 
replaced  La  Fayette's  national  guard  were  on  foot.  More  than  sixty 
thousand  armed  men  occupied  the  boulevards,  the  squares,  and  the 
bridges.  ELve  hundred  royalists  had  resolved  to  make  a  dash  and 
rescue  the  king  on  his  way  to  the  scaffold.  They  could  not  even 
assemble,  and  there  was  no  other  attempt  at  rescue  than  a  few 
cries  of  "  Mercy ! "  raised  on  his  departure  from  the  Temple  and  his 
arrival  at  the  ancient  Place  Louis  XV.,  now  become  the  Place  de  la 
Revolution. 

These  cries  found  no  echo  among  the  armed  masses.  Louis  had 
employed  the  time  of  his  journey  in  reading  the  prayers  for  the 
dying.  The  carriage  stopped  at  the  foot  of  the  scaffold,  where  the 
obelisk  now  stands.  It  was  ten  in  the  morning;  Louis  finished 
his  prayer,  and  himself  took  off  his  coat.  When  the  executioners' 


378  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIIL 

assistants  prepared  to  bind  his  hands,  his  resignation  for  an  instant 
gave  way,  and  he  vehemently  repulsed  them.  "Make  this  last 
sacrifice,"  said  the  priest  to  him;  "it  is  only  another  point  of 
resemblance  between  your  Majesty  and  the  God  who  is  about  to 
be  your  recompense." 

He  yielded,  ascended  the  steps  of  the  scaffold,  and  by  a  gesture 
commanding  the  grains  to  be  silent,  exclaimed,  "  I  am  innocent ;  I 
forgive  the  authors  of  my  death,  and  pray  God  that  my  blood  may 
never  be  avenged  on  France." 

The  roll  of  the  drums  drowned  his  words.  The  executioners 
seized  him;  an  appalling  shriek  was  heard,  and  all  was  over. 

As  his  head  fell,  the  battalions  that  filled  the  square  and  the 
distant  rabble  raised  a  shout :  "  Long  live  the  Republic ! "  Some 
dipped  their  handkerchiefs,  othejs  the  point  of  their  weapons, 
in  the  blood  of  the  victim:  the  majority  through  revolutionary 
fanaticism ;  a  few  to  preserve  a  relic  of  him  whom  they  regarded 
as  a  martyr.  The  mob  withdrew  without  tumult,  and  without 
manifesting  any  emotion  corresponding  with  the  tragic  grandeur 
of  the  event.  The  women,  however,  were  sad;  most  of  them  re- 
mained shut  up  at  home.  The  death  of  the  prisoner  of  the  Temple 
alienated  their  hearts  from  the  Revolution,  —  more,  perhaps,  than 
the  September  massacres  had  done. 

One  old  officer  died  of  grief ;  a  bookseller  went  mad ;  a  hair- 
dresser cut  his  throat ;  a  woman  threw  herself  into  the  Seine. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  legend  of  the  martyr-king,  of 
which  so  much  capital  was  afterwards  made  by  the  counter-revolu- 
tionary party,  —  the  party  which  had  urged  Louis  XVI.  on  to  ruin 
and  to  death. 

The  greater  number  of  the  most  illustrious  chiefs  of  the  Revolu- 
tion were  destined  to  follow  to  the  tomb  the  first  victim  of  the 
revolutionary  scaffold. 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  379 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued}.  —  CONTINUATION  OF  THE  CONFLICT 
BETWEEN  THE  GIRONDE  AND  THE  MOUNTAIN.  —  REVOLT  OF  LA 
VENDEE.  —  LOSS  OF  BELGIUM.  —  MAY  31  AND  JUNE  2. 

January  21  to  June  2,  1703. 

rT^HE  Convention  showed  that  it  comprehended  the  position  in 
_J_  which  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.  had  placed  France  before  Eu- 
rope. It  became  a  unit  again  for  a  moment,  in  the  face  of  dangers, 
and  voted  an  address  to  the  French  people,  drawn  up  by  Barere,  in 
which  it  declared  that  whatever  might  have  been  the  opinions  of 
each  of  its  members  before  the  vote,  all  accepted  the  responsibility 
of  its  verdict.  The  Convention  appealed  to  the  harmony  of  the 
whole  nation,  saying,  "  It  is  now  too  late  for  discussion :  we  must 
act "  (January  23). 

The  committee  of  the  Assembly  which  signed  this  address  was 
composed  entirely  of  Girondists,  with  Vergniaud  at  their  head. 

The  Convention  celebrated  with  extraordinary  solemnity  the 
obsequies  of  the  representative  of  the  people  who  had  paid  for 
his  vote  with  his  life,  and  bore  the  remains  of  Lepelletier  to  the 
Pantheon,  from  which  Mirabeau's  had  just  been  removed  (January  t 
24).  There  was  profound  emotion  in  the  Assembly  and  among  the 
populace.  It  was  said  that  this  man,  who  had  gone  over  from  the 
privileged  class  in  which  he  was  born  to  the  popular  party,  had  left 
as  his  legacy  the  draft  of  a  penal  code  which  was  humane  without 
weakness,  and  a  plan  of  public  education  destined  to  mould  repub- 
lican generations.  Lepelletier  proposed  therein  that  the  children  of 
the  poor  should  be  educated  with  those  of  the  rich  by  the  Kepublic, 
with  the  aid  and  the  surveillance  of  the  family. 


380  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

The  Convention  swore  upon  Lepelletier's  corpse  to  save  the  coun- 
try. His  murderer,  who  was  pursued  and  arrested  in  a  hamlet  of 
Normandy,  blew  out  his  brains. 

The  Gironde  no  longer  possessed  the  ministry  of  the  interior ;  on 
the  21st  of  January  Danton  had  demanded,  in  otherwise  moderate 
language,  that  Koland,  whose  intentions  he  did  not  challenge,  should 
cease  to  be  minister.  Eoland,  in  his  opinion,  was  too  obstinate, 
and,  seeing  conspiracies  everywhere,  did  not  use  the  true  means  to 
establish  quiet  and  concord.  No  vote  was  taken  upon  Danton's 
proposition,  but,  two  days  after,  Eoland  sent  in  his  resignation.  The 
unjust  suspicions  raised  against  him  no  longer  permitted  him,  he 
said,  to  serve  the  Eepublic  to  advantage,  and  made  it  his  duty  to 
withdraw,  in  order  not  to  be  an  obstacle  to  the  union  of  the  Assem- 
bly. The  majority  of  the  Convention  manifested  their  esteem  for 
this  upright  man  by  resolving  that  his  letter  should  be  sent  to  the 
departments. 

Eoland  was  replaced  by  a  former  Constituent,  Garat,  a  man  of 
philosophical,  observing,  penetrating,  and  impartial  mind,  but  wholly 
unfit  for  action ;  capable  of  giving  excellent  conciliatory  advice  to 
parties,  but  lacking  the  power  to  make  his  advice  heeded.  Eoland 
erred  through  stubbornness,  Garat  through  weakness. 

Foreign  affairs  were  becoming  more  and  more  serious.  Since 
Jemmapes,  war  with  England  was  inevitable.  At  the  moment 
when  the  French  forces  entered  Antwerp  the  Convention  had  pro- 
claimed the  freedom  of  the  Scheldt,  that  is  to*  say,  it  had  restored 
to  Belgium  what  nature  had  given  her  and  what  men  had  taken 
from  her,  the  free  navigation  of  her  beautiful  river  to  the  sea. 
This  measure  re-established  the  natural  right,  but  annulled  the 
unjust  treaties,  which  gave  to  Holland  alone  the  navigation  of  the 
Lower  Scheldt.  England  was  much  exasperated  and  alarmed  at  this 
proceeding,  less  on  account  of  the  interests  of  Holland  than  because 
the  opening  of  the  Scheldt  would  place  the  French  navy  in  Ant- 
werp, opposite  the  Thames. 

Holland,  at  this  time,  was  only  a  dependency  of  England,  under 
the  government  of  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Orange,  restored  in  1787 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  381 

by  Prussian  bayonets  and  English  diplomacy.  The  Holland  patriots 
ardently  appealed  to  the  French,  and  Dumouriez,  after  his  entrance 
into  Brussels,  had  opposed  to  the  orders  sent  him  to  march  upon 
the  German  Rhine  a  project  to  deliver  Holland. 

This  was  alluring,  but  far  more  hazardous  in  a  military  point 
of  view  than  the  march  upon  Cologne  and  upon  the  Ehine,  and  it 
was  a  declaration  of  war  with  England.  Every  day  the  chances  for 
averting  this  war  diminished.  Pitt,  it  is  true,  until  the  middle  of 
November,  had  desired  the  maintenance  of  neutrality,  and  even 
thought  of  mediating  for  a  general  peace ;  but  on  receiving  tidings 
of  the  opening  of  the  Scheldt  and  of  the  decree  of  November  1SL 
through  which  the  Convention  offered  the  aid  of  France  to  nations 
who  sought  to  recover  their  liberty,  he  had  suddenly  changed  his 
views.  He  had  sent  to  the  court  of  Vienna  a  memorial  upon  the 
reorganization  and  reinforcement  of  the  coalition  against  France 
(November  25).  His  immediate  end  was  to  assure  to  Holland  — 
that  is  to  say,  to  the  government  of  the  stadtholder  —  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Austrian  and  Prussian  troops. 

Amoug  the  higher  and  middle  classes  of  England  reaction 
against  the  French  Revolution  and  against  the  democratic  English 
party  was  on  the  increase.  The  English  conservative  spirit  was 
alarmed,  not  only  at  the  tragic  events  which  were  taking  place  in 
France,  but  also  at  the  tendency  of  the  French  Eepublic  every- 
where to  propagate  maxims  of  equality  and  the  abolition  of  the 
hereditary  and  traditional  issues  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  English  government,  with  the  approbation  of  Parliament, 
began  military  preparations.  The  liberal  leaders,  Fox  and  his 
friends,  tried  to  interpose,  on  the  one  side,  to  induce  England  to 
recognize  the  French  Eepublic,  and  on  the  other  to  make  their  gov- 
ernment intervene  to  save  the  life  of  Louis  XVI.  The  House  of 
Commons  accepted  only  that  proposition  of  Fox's  which  related  to 
Louis  XVI. ;  but  Pitt  paid  no  attention  to  it,  and  made  no  effort  in 
favor  of  the  imprisoned  king.  It  is  doubtful  whether  he  was  inter- 
ested in  the  fate  of  the  king  who  had  aided  the  American  colonies 
in  their  War  of  Independence. 


382  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

At  the  proclamation  of  the  annexation  of  Savoy  to  France,  Bishop 
Gregoire  had  uttered  this  menacing  saying :  "  All  governments  are 
our  enemies,  all  peoples  are  our  brethren ;  either  we  shall  succumb, 
or  liberty  will  be  restored  to  all  nations." 

It  is  but  justice  to  remark  that  the  English  ministers  often  ex- 
pressed themselves  in  the  most  offensive  fashion  in  regard  to  the 
French  Kepublic.  The  French  minister,  however,  at  the  beginning 
of  December,  forbade  Dumouriez  for  the  present  to  attack  Holland. 
The  French  ambassador,  Chauvelin,  who  since  August  10  had  un- 
officially remained  in  London,  forewarned  Pitt  of  this  resolution 
(December  27). 

A  bill  of  Parliament  (December  26)  which  was  very  vexatious  to 
foreigners,  and  other  measures,  such  as  a  prohibition  of  the  exporta- 
tion of  English  grain  to  France, — acts  which  transgressed  equally  the 
commercial  treaties  between  France  and  England, — greatly  modified 
the  pacific  disposition  among  the  French.  The  minister  of  marine, 
the  learned  Monge,  published  a  violent  circular,  which  paved  the 
way  for  a  maritime  war,  and  which  appealed  to  English  democrats. 
Lebrun,  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  communicated  to  the  Con- 
vention a  note  which  declared  to  the  English  cabinet  that  the 
application  to  the  French  of  the  bill  against  foreigners  would  be 
considered  a  rupture  of  the  treaty  of  commerce  (December  30,  31). 

The  French  ministry  undertook  negotiations  for  an  alliance  with 
the  United  States  of  America. 

Pitt  still  hesitated.  He  could  not  decide  upon  a  treaty  of  alliance 
with  Spain,  which  in  December  still  hoped  to  save  the  life  of  Louis 
XVI.  He  saw  Russia  and  Prussia  preparing  for  the  second  parti- 
tion of  Poland,  and  he  was  opposed  to  this  strengthening  of  the  two 
powers,  not  as  an  injustice, — for  that  he  cared  little, — but  as  prejudi- 
cial to  the  interests  of  England.  He  renewed  the  idea  of  maintain- 
ing peace  with  France,  provided  she  renounced  her  conquests,  and 
especially  Belgium.  This  was  the  leading  idea  of  an  arrogant  note, 
by  which  the  English  cabinet  replied  to  Chauvelin's  communication 
of  December  27. 

The  French  ministry  replied,  in  moderate  terms,  that  the  occupa- 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  383 

tion  of  Belgium  would  cease  with  the  war,  as  soon  as  the  Belgians 
should  have  secured  and  consolidated  their  liberty,  but  that  if  these 
explanations  were  not  considered  sufficient,  and  if  hostile  prepara- 
tions continued  in  the  English  dominions,  France,  with  regret,  would 
prepare  for  war. 

The  English  ministry  insisted  upon  the  evacuation  of  Belgium, 
and  granted  no  indemnity  for  the  violations  of  the  treaty  of  com- 
merce. January  12  Brissot,  in  the  name  of  the  diplomatic  commit- 
tee, presented  to  the  Convention  a  report  upon  the  conduct  of  the 
English  government  toward  France.  Its  conclusion  was,  that  if 
England  did  not  make  reparation  for  her  offences,  France  ought 
immediately  to  take  such  measures  as  the  safety  of  the  Republic 
demanded.  The  Convention  ordered  thirty  ships  of  the  line  to  be 
fitted  out  and  twenty-five  to  be  built. 

The  English  ministry  refused  to  suspend  its  armaments,  and 
sent  a  squadron  to  reinforce  the  Dutch  vessels  in  blockading  the 
mouths  of  the  Scheldt.  The  French  ministry,  knowing  that  its 
navy  was  not  ready  for  war,  still  sought  to  avert  or  to  postpone 
hostilities.  Lebrun,  at  the  instigation  of  Talleyrand,  who  was  then 
in  England,  conceived  the  project  of  recalling  Chauvelin  from  Lon- 
don, and  sending  in  his  place  Dumouriez,  who  was  as  ready  to 
negotiate  a  peace  as  to  conquer  Holland,  provided  he  could  play 
the  first  role. 

In  the  midst  of  these  events  the  news  of  the  execution  of  Louis 
XVI.  produced  a  terrible  effect  in  London.  The  English  cabinet 
gave  Chauvelin  notice  to  leave  England,  and  demanded  from  Par- 
liament new  military  and  maritime  forces.  The  expulsion  of  its 
minister,  Chauvelin,  was  considered  by  France  as  a  declaration  of 
war.  February  1,  upon  a  new  report  from  Brissot,  the  Convention 
unanimously  declared  that  in  consequence  of  multiplied  acts  of 
hostility  committed  against  her,  the  French  Republic  was  at  war 
with  the  king  of  England  and  the  stadtholder  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces (Holland). 

The  Convention  decreed  an  address  to  the  English  people,  to 
instruct  them  concerning  the  true  motives  of  the  war,  and  granted 


384  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

protection  and  safety  to  English  and  Dutch  travellers  in  France, 
provided  they  conformed  to  the  laws. 

Brissot's  language  had  been  equal  to  the  situation ;  he  had  plainly 
said  to  France  that  she  would  soon  have  to  fight  all  the  powers  of 
Europe,  both  upon  land  and  sea.  "  All  the  French  must  constitute 
one  great  army ;  all  France  must  be  a  camp.  "We  must  be  prepared 
for  reverses  and  accustomed  to  privations.  The  moment  approaches 
when  it  will  be  a  crime  for  any  citizen  to  have  two  coats  if  one  of 
our  brother  soldiers  has  none." 

It  was  with  a  heavy  heart  that  Brissot  had  drawn  up  his  report. 
He  and  all  the  Girondists  had  hitherto  been  as  much  opposed  to  war 
against  England  as  eager  for  war  with  Austria.  They  had  dreamed 
of  an  England,  the  sister  of  France,  exchanging  her  ancient  aristo- 
cratic liberties  for  democratic  liberty  and  the  rights  of  man,  and 
they  saw  constitutional  England  placing  herself  at  the  head  of  the 
despots  leagued  against  France. 

Fox  made  one  last  effort  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  avert  this 
war,  declared  by  France,  but  provoked,  in  his  opinion,  by  the  Eng- 
lish ministry.  "  You  make  war,"  cried  he,  "  under  the  pretext  that 
France  invades  neutral  States,  and  you  allow  Poland  to  be  invaded 
without  protest."  The  invasion,  which  was  to  result  in  a  second 
partition  of  Poland,  was  then  going  on  under  the  most  odious  cir- 
cumstances, especially  on  the  part  of  Prussia. 

Pitt  went  further  than  to  tacitly  consent  to  the  second  partition 
of  Poland.  He  concluded  a  treaty  with  Catherine  II.,  by  which 
Russia  and  England  pledged  themselves  not  only  to  break  off 
all  commercial  relations  with  France,  but  to  forbid  them  to  the 
neutral  states ;  that  is  to  say,  to  violate  everywhere  the  rights  of 
the  people,  and  to  permit  neutrality  nowhere.  By  this  course 
Russia  abandoned  the  principles  she  had  proclaimed  as  to  the  rights 
of  neutrals,  and  authorized  the  tyranny  of  England  upon  the  seas. 
England,  in  compensation,  delivered  up  Poland. 

War  between  France  and  England,  moreover,  had  become  inevita- 
ble through  the  resolution  of  the  English  ministry  not  to  tolerate 
French  occupation  in  Belgium.  Austria  and  Prussia  had  no  desire 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  385 

for  peace  with  France,  against  which  Russia  was  urging  them  to  ex- 
treme measures,  in  order  to  attach  them  to  her  own  policy  in  Poland. 
France,  on  her  side,  neither  wished  nor  had  the  power  to  evacuate 
Belgium  or  the  Rhenish  provinces,  England  not  being  able  to  guar- 
antee peace  to  her. 

Thus  recommenced  that  great  conflict  of  the  French  and  English 
nations  which  was  to  become  furious  as  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Pitt, 
who  had  for  a  long  time  hesitated  to  undertake  this  struggle,  now 
threw  himself  into  it  with  all  the  force  of  his  iron  will  and  his  cold, 
inflexible  obstinacy.  Henceforth  he  had  but  one  idea,  —  to  ruin 
and  destroy  France  by  every  means  in  his  power.  He  died  soon 
after,  without  seeing  the  end  of  this  war,  which,  with  a  respite  of  two 
short  intervals,  was  to  convulse  the  world  for  two-and-twenty  years. 

Upon  the  day  of  the  declaration  of  war  with  England  Cambon 
frankly  laid  before  the  Convention  the  financial  situation  of  France. 
The  direct  taxes  in  1792  had  produced  two  hundred  and  six  million 
francs ;  the  indirect  taxes,  united  to  divers  sources  of  income,  had 
yielded  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  millions ;  the  revenues  of  the 
national  estates,  almost  eighty  millions :  this  made  over  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty  millions  of  ordinary  resources,  and  there  were  enor- 
mous arrears  upon  which  large  sums  could  be  recovered.  But  the 
war  expenses  would  be  two  millions  a  month. 

Admitting  that  a  better  administration  would  reduce  the  expenses 
of  the  war,  they  would  still  infinitely  surpass  the  revenues  of  the 
state.  The  sale  of  the  estates  of  the  clergy  had  hitherto  been  the 
great  resource ;  but  this  resource  was  exhausted.  These  estates  had 
been  sold  to  the  amount  of  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty 
millions ;  only  three  hundred  and  eighty  millions'  worth  remained 
for  sale.  But  according  to  Cambon  the  estates  of  the  emigrants 
exceeded  the  church  property  in  value.  There  were  nearly  thirty 
thousand  emigrant  proprietors ;  Cambon  valued  their  property  at 
almost  five  billions,  probably  an  exaggerated  figure.  He  estimated 
that,  the  debts  of  the  emigrants  being  paid,  three  billions  would 
remain  to  the  Republic. 

To  sell  the  estates  of  the  emigrants  was  a  far  graver  matter  than 
25 


386  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

to  sell  the  estates  of  the  clergy,  these  being  private  property.  If  it 
was  just  to  hold  the  men  who  had  caused  the  war  responsible  to 
their  country,  both  in  property  and  in  person,  for  the  evils  they 
had  brought  on  France,  it  was  unjust  to  exercise  the  same  rigor  in 
regard  to  emigrants  who  had  left  France  through  fear,  and  who  did 
not  bear  arms.  In  the  excitement  of  passion  and  danger  this  dis- 
tinction was  not  made ;  weakness  was  confounded  with  treason. 

Cambon  induced  the  Convention  to  vote,  as  an  addition  to  the 
two  billions  and  three  hundred  millions  of  assignats  now  in  circula- 
tion, eight  hundred  millions  more,  which  should  have  for  security 
the  estates  of  the  emigrants.  Cambon  had  declared  it  a  great  honor 
to  the  Eepublic,  that  in  so  critical  a  state  of  affairs  it  continued  to 
pay  faithfully  seventy-two  millions  a  year  in  order  to  discharge  the 
debts  of  the  late  monarchy  and  the  pensions  of  persons  whose 
charges  and  offices  had  been  abolished  by  the  Revolution. 

On  the  next  day,  February  2,  the  Convention  decided  that  nine 
commissioners  chosen  from  that  body  should  repair  to  the  frontiers 
of  the  North  and  East,  with  full  powers  to  put  fortified  places  in 
a  defensive  posture,  and  to  dismiss  all  civil  and  military  function- 
aries. Pache,  the  minister  of  war  and  Servan's  successor,  had  given 
cause  for  serious  complaint ;  a  friend  of  Roland's,  and  urged  by  him 
into  the  ministry,  he  had  suddenly  gone  over  to  the  Jacobins,  whom 
he  thought  destined  to  rule,  and  to  the  most  turbulent  of  whom  he 
had  given  all  the  offices  within  his  jurisdiction.  The  confusion 
therein  was  great,  the  expenses  boundless,  and  the  army  destitute 
of  everything.  The  Convention  dismissed  Pache,  and  made  General 
Beurnonville  his  successor.  February  7  Dubois-Crance  presented  a 
report,  in  the  name  of  the  war  committee,  upon  the  reorganization 
of  the  army,  to  which  he  proposed  to  restore  unity  by  forming  regi- 
ments of  one  battalion  of  soldiers  of  the  line  and  two  battalions  of 
volunteers.  A  new  method  of  appointment  was  to  combine  the 
election  in  use  among  volunteers,  with  promotion,  partly  by  choice 
of  the  government  and  partly  by  seniority,  as  was  practised  in  the 
line, 

The  efficiency  of  the  army  was  greatly  diminished,  many  of  the 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  387 

volunteers  having  returned  home  since  the  suspension  of  military 
operations.  The  Convention  had  decided  to  raise  the  effective  force 
to  five  hundred  thousand  soldiers.  The  report  concluded  with 
urging  the  necessity  of  a  levy  of  three  hundred  thousand  men. 
These  important  measures  passed,  and  the  Convention  decreed  that 
all  French  citizens  from  eighteen  to  forty  years  of  age,  who  were 
unmarried,  or  widowers  without  children,  should  be  liable  to  draft, 
until  the  levy  of  three  hundred  thousand  men  was  complete.  Those 
who  remained  in  the  service  until  peace  were  to  be  entitled  to  pen- 
sions guaranteed  from  the  estates  of  emigrants. 

In  the  midst  of  these  cares  the  Convention  did  not  lose  sight 
of  the  interests  of  science  and  the  arts,  but  paved  the  way  for  the 
creation  of  the  National  Museum  (the  Louvre)  and  similar  estab- 
lishments in  the  departments. 

The  military  situation  became  alarming,  and  the  suspicions  in- 
creased against  Dumouriez.  His  conduct  in  Belgium  had  been 
marked  with  duplicity,  where  he  had  begun  with  revolutionary 
proclamations  and  the  establishment  of  clubs,  and  had  subsequently 
courted  in  private  the  ruling  classes  whom  he  publicly  assailed. 
He  strove  to  form  a  party  of  his  own  among  the  Belgians,  aban- 
doned himself  to  dreams  of  personal  ambition,  and  aimed  to  con- 
trol, with  a  view  to  his  own  interest,  both  his  army  and  Belgium. 
His  secret  aim  was  to  restore  the  constitutional  monarchy  in  France, 
in  behalf,  not  of  Philippe  FJgalite,  whose  incapacity  he  well  knew, 
but  of  the  ex-Duke  of  Chartres,  the  eldest  son  of  Philippe.  Young 
Louis-Philippe  d'Orleans,  or  General  FJgalite,  as  they  called  him, 
had  been  greatly  displeased  with  his  father's  vote  at  the  trial  of 
Louis  XVI.,  and  held  himself  ready  for  any  event. 

Dumouriez  fluctuated  between  all  sorts  of  confused  and  contra- 
dictory projects:  now  the  invasion  of  wealthy  Holland,  so  as  to 
have  its  resources  at  his  disposal ;  now  the  restoration  of  Belgium 
to  Austria,  so  as  to  make  peace  simultaneously  with  the  Orleanist 
constitutional  restoration.  Meantime  he  strove  to  prevent  the 
annexation  of  Belgium  to  France,  and  urged  it  to  constitute  itself 
an  independent  state.  He  in  some  sort  made  himself  minister  of 


388  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

war  as  well  as  general,  the  detestable  administration  of  Pache 
giving  him  specious  pretexts  for  this  course.  He  made  large  con- 
tracts with  shrewd  but  avaricious  speculators,  and  levied  a  heavy 
loan  on  the  Belgian  clergy,  which  was  an  indirect  pledge  not  to 
touch  ecclesiastical  property. 

This  manner  of  proceeding,  in  December,  1792,  excited  a  fierce 
contest  between  Dumouriez  and  Cambon.  Cambon  wished  to  de- 
prive the  general  of  the  sort  of  dictatorship  he  had  assumed  over 
Belgium  and  the  army ;  he  wished  to  revolutionize  Belgium  thor- 
oughly ;  to  take  possession  of  the  estates  of  the  Belgian  clergy,  the 
pledge  of  the  indemnity  due  the  French  Republic  for  the  costs  of 
the  war ;  to  introduce  assignats  into  Belgium  at  par ;  and,  finally, 
to  annex  Belgium  to  France.  He  cancelled  all  of  Dumouriez's  con- 
tracts, and  referred  everything  relating  to  army  supplies  to  commis- 
sioners named  by  the  Convention,  and  finally  issued  the  great  decree 
of  December  15  concerning  the  revolutionary  organization  of  coun- 
tries occupied  by  the  French  armies. 

Dumouriez  was  plunged  in  consternation ;  this  decree,  which  was 
soon  followed  by  the  sending  of  thirty  commissioners  from  the 
French  government,  rendered  the  success  of  his  plans  impossible. 
Danton,  who  had  just  caused  himself  to  be  sent  again  to  Belgium, 
took  sides  with  Cambon  against  Dumouriez,  and  directed  all  his 
efforts  toward  the  annexation  of  Belgium  to  France. 

The  decree  of  December  15,  by  which  the  Convention  prescribed 
the  Eevolution  and  enforced  the  guardianship  of  the  French  Repub- 
lic in  the  countries  occupied  by  its  armies,  aroused  much  feeling 
and  protestation  in  Belgium.  Not  only  those  attached  to  the  An- 
cient Regime,  but  a  portion  of  those  who  sympathized  with  the 
Revolution,  complained  that  they  were  not  allowed  the  free  dis- 
posal of  themselves. 

The  Girondists,  who  ruled  in  the  diplomatic  committee  of  the 
Convention,  were  disposed  to  receive  these  complaints  from  more 
disinterested  motives  than  those  of  Dumouriez.  They  would  will- 
ingly enough  have  witnessed  the  formation  of  a  Belgian  republic 
allied  to  France  but  not  absorbed  by  it ;  which  would  have  been, 
in  their  opinion,  a  means  of  avoiding  war  with  England. 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  389 

This  idea  was  specious,  but  the  men  who,  like  Danton,  knew 
Belgium  intimately,  judged  it  impracticable.  The  municipal  and 
provincial  spirit  was  very  strong  in  the  Belgian  provinces,  but  the 
national  spirit  did  not  exist  there.  These  provinces  were  incapable 
of  agreeing  to  constitute  a  national  assembly  and  an  army.  The 
nobles,  and  above  all  the  priests,  exercised  a  preponderating  influ- 
ence in  the  greater  part  of  this  country,  which  preserved  many  tra- 
ditions of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  would  have  striven  to  turn  Belgium 
against  France.  They  would  have  called  the  Austrians,  their  an- 
cient enemies,  to  their  aid,  and  Belgium  would  at  once  have  had 
civil  and  foreign  war.  The  Belgium  of  that  time  must  not  be 
judged  by  the  Belgium  of  to-day,  —  a  country  trained  to  political 
life  by  half  a  century  of  free  government,  and  where  the  retrograde 
party,  although  still  powerful,  is  no  longer  in  a  condition  to  over- 
throw the  institutions  which  are  the  outgrowth  of  the  French 
Revolution. 

The  party  for  annexation  triumphed.  January  31  Danton  had 
said  before  the  Convention :  "  The  limits  of  France  are  marked  by 
nature ;  our  Republic  should  reach  to  the  banks  of  the  Ehine  and 
the  foot  of  the  Alps."  Danton  and  the  other  envoys  from  the 
Convention,  as  well  as  the  commissioners  of  the  executive  power, 
exercised,  through  the  clubs,  a  strong  pressure  upon  the  Belgian 
towns.  Annexation  was  voted  in  general  by  feeble  minorities,  the 
majority  taking  no  part  in  the  vote,  and  showing  itself  either  in- 
different or  alienated  by  the  despotic  course  of  the  French  com- 
missioners, who  were  for  the  most  part  unwisely  chosen.  The 
revolutionary  party,  although  it  had  friends  everywhere,  really  pre- 
dominated only  at  Mons,  Charleroi,  and  a  few  other  points.  At 
Liege  and  in  the  Liegeois  country,  which  had  never  taken  sides  with 
Belgium,  it  was  quite  the  contrary.  The  entire  population,  which 
sympathized  fully  with  French  ideas,  enthusiastically  voted  for 
annexation  to  France. 

There  had  been  no  open  rupture  between  Dumouriez  and  the 
Convention.  The  Assembly  still  sought  to  remain  on  good  terms 
with  the  general  because  of  his  popularity  in  the  army.  He,  on  his 


390  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

part,  not  believing  himself  as  yet  prepared  to  attempt  to  carry  his 
designs  into  execution,  passed  the  month  of  January  in  intrigues  at 
Paris.  He  then  imagined  that  he  could  negotiate  a  peace  at  Lon- 
don; the  project  failed,  and  he  returned  to  his  plan  of  attack 
against  Holland.  This  had  become  madness ;  the  French  armies  of 
Belgium  and  the  Rhine  were  greatly  enfeebled,  while  the  Austrians 
and  the  Prussians  were  accumulating  large  forces  to  repair  their 
reverses  of  1792.  His  only  thought  should  have  been  how  to 
withstand  them.  Dumouriez,  however,  wrung  from  the  French 
government  permission  to  attack  Holland,  entered  Dutch  Brabant 
on  the  22d  of  February,  and  took  Breda  and  Gertruydenberg,  while 
one  of  his  lieutenants  besieged  Maestricht. 

The  Austrian  army,  which  had  formed  anew  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Rhine,  entered  Cologne  and  Juliers,  and  took  advantage  of  the 
mistake  Dumouriez  had  made  in  thus  scattering  his  forces.  The 
new  Austrian  general,  the  Prince  of  Saxe-Coburg,  advanced  with 
the  greater  part  of  his  soldiers,  forced  the  French  lines,  which  were 
too  widely  dispersed,  at  Roer,  and  obliged  the  lieutenants  of  Du- 
mouriez to  evacuate  Aix-la-Chapelle,  to  raise  the  siege  of  Maestricht, 
and  then  to  evacuate  Liege  (1st  to  5th  of  March).  The  night  of 
the  4th  to  the  5th  of  March  was  for  Liege  a  night  of  desolation. 
The  Liegeois  patriots,  unwilling  to  deliver  themselves  with  their 
families  to  the  vengeance  of  the  counter-revolutionists,  emigrated 
by  thousands  to  Belgium  and  France. 

This  disaster  to  the  French  arms  excited  the  deepest  emotion 
in  Paris,  which  loved  Liege  like  a  sister.  The  Convention  received 
tidings  of  this  reverse  just  as  it  was  preparing  to  take  the  field 
against  a  new  enemy ;  it  had  declared  war  upon  the  king  of  Spain, 
who,  on  learning  of  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.,  had  broken  off  all 
negotiations  with  France,  and  commanded  preparations  to  be  made 
for  hostilities  (March  7). 

The  next  day,  upon  the  return  of  its  commissioners  from  Belgium, 
the  Convention  ordered  every  soldier  or  volunteer  to  join  the  army 
immediately,  and  upon  Danton's  motion  sent  delegates  to  the  forty- 
eight  sections  of  Paris,  to  summon  all  citizens  capable  of  bearing 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  391 

arms  to  hasten  to  the  defence  of  their  brothers  in  Belgium,  in  the 
name  of  liberty  and  equality.  Other  members  of  the  Assembly 
were  instructed  to  fulfil  the  same  mission  in  all  the  departments. 
The  commune  seconded  the  Convention,  and  the  outburst  of  enthu- 
siasm of  July,  1792,  was  again  witnessed  among  the  people.  The  vol- 
untary enlistments  were  numerous;  the  Corn  Market  alone  furnished 
a  thousand  men.  But  there  was  an  undercurrent  to  this  great  pop- 
ular uprising;  the  band  of  demons  who  plotted  at  L'lilveche,  and 
who  thought  Marat  and  Hebert  too  moderate,  were  endeavoring  to 
turn  this  movement  of  the  people  into  a  riot,  to  control  both  the 
commune  and  the  Convention,  to  suppress  the  journals,  —  most  of 
which  were  favorable  to  the  Girondists, —  and  to  massacre  the  Giron- 
dists or  drive  them  from  the  Assembly.  "  The  Convention  must 
be  purged  ! "  was  their  rally  ing-cry. 

On  the  evening  of  March  8  violent  measures  were  advocated 
in  the  Jacobin  Club  and  the  sections.  The  ringleaders,  however, 
although  unable  to  carry  out  the  insurrection  they  had  planned  for 
the  morning  of  June  9,  were  still  able  to  contribute  largely  to  the 
pressure  exercised  on  the  Convention  by  an  audience  animated  by 
fiery  passions. 

The  session  of  March  9  was  destined  to  make  a  terrible  record  in 
the  history  of  the  Eevolution.  A  few  sections  having  demanded 
the  establishment  of  a  revolutionary  tribunal  to  pass  sentence  upon 
conspirators  and  counter-revolutionists  without  power  of  appeal,  a 
deputy  proposed  that  this  tribunal  should  be  decreed  by  the  Con- 
vention. This  deputy,  as  yet  unknown,  but  destined  to  a  terrible 
renown,  was  named  Carrier. 

This  proposal,  which  was  carried,  was  in  fact  the  restoration  of 
the  exceptional  tribunal  which  had  been  instituted  after  the  10th 
of  August  and  afterwards  suppressed ;  it  was  this  time  to  extend  its 
jurisdiction  over  all  France,  under  far  more  formidable  conditions. 
Even  now  the  £veche  conspirators  were  not  content.  That  evening 
they  sent  a  band  of  armed  men  to  destroy  the  presses  of  some  of  the 
Girondist  journals ;  the  next  day  they  tried  to  persuade  the  sections 
to  join  them,  Not  succeeding  in  this,  they  none  the  less  boldly 


392  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

presented  themselves  before  the  commune  in  the  name  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  leaders  of  the  commune  were  men  unworthy  of  confi- 
dence. Its  mayor  was  Pache,  that  worthless  minister  of  war  whom 
the  Jacobins  had  compensated  for  his  dismissal  by  raising  him  to  the 
mayoralty;  its  procureur  was  Chaumette;  and  his  proxy,  Hebert,  was 
the  editor  of  that  ignoble  journal,  the  P&re  DucMne.  Owing  to  the 
absence  of  electors  from  the  polls,  Paris  had  incurred  the  disgrace 
of  Hebert's  elevation  to  the  municipal  magistracy  of  1792.  The 
lilveche'  leaders  endeavored  to  persuade  both  volunteers  and  Jacobins 
to  attack  the  Convention.  A  Mountain  deputy,  Dubois-Crance,  the 
framer  of  the  great  report  on  the  reorganization  of  the  army,  mounted 
the  Jacobin  tribune  and  exclaimed :  "  What  are  you  doing  ?  You 
wish  to  save  the  country,  and  you  are  about  to  destroy  it ! "  The  mob 
paused  and  dispersed.  The  commune  itself,  at  Santerre's  instigation, 
issued  a  proclamation  that  night  against  those  guilty  of  sedition. 

An  important  session  of  the  Convention  had  taken  place  the  same 
day.  Robespierre  had  renewed  his  perpetual  accusations  against 
the  Girondists,  but  had  unexpectedly  declared  his  confidence  in 
Dumouriez,  whose  interest  and  glory  were  linked  with  the  success 
of  his  country's  arms.  Danton  outdid  Robespierre  in  his  praise  of 
Dumouriez,  but  preached  harmony  in  violent  language,  while  Robes- 
pierre infused  new  venom  into  already  existing  hatred,  with  grave 
and  measured  words.  Marat  himself,  while  railing  at  the  Girondists, 
dealt  gently  with  Dumouriez,  whom  he  had  so  often  furiously 
denounced.  All  parties  united  in  the  general  desire  to  preserve  to 
the  Republic  the  victor  of  Valmy  and  Jemmapes. 

Cambaceres,  a  Languedoc  attorney,  who  was  destined  subsequently 
to  take  a  leading  part  in  drawing  up  the  civil  laws  of  France,  de- 
manded the  immediate  organization  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal, 
decreed  in  principle  by  the  Convention.  Danton  vehemently  sup- 
ported him,  arguing  that  this  would  prevent  a  recurrence  of  the 
September  massacres.  The  Convention  decreed  that  the  judges  and 
jurors  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal  should  be  named  by  itself. 
The  jurors  were  to  be  taken  from  all  the  departments.  Upon 
motion  of  a  deputy  of  the  Mountain,  it  was  decided  that  jurors 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  393 

should  vote  in  public,  and  viva  wee;  a  most  unfortunate  measure, 
contrary  to  true  judicial  principles,  which  deprived  jurors  of  their 
independence.  The  anarchists,  who  aspired  to  cripple  the  Conven- 
tion, had  failed  this  time ;  but  the  EEIGN  OF  TERROR  was  established : 
it  had  gained  its  great  instrument,  the  revolutionary  tribunal. 

The  great  royalist  conspiracy  which  had.  failed  in  August,  1792, 
was  renewed  and  developed  in  Brittany,  under  the  direction  of  an 
able  and  intrepid  adventurer  named  La  Rouerie.  An  agent  of 
Danton's  had  discovered  the  secrets  and  followed  all  the  movements 
of  this  leader,  who  was  invested  with  full  powers  by  the  brothers  of 
Louis  XVI.  Those  of  the  Western  nobles  who  had  remained  at 
home  were  authorized  by  the  emigrant  princes  to  feign  partisanship 
with  the  Revolution  until  the  arrival  of  the  moment  for  action. 

La  Rouerie  fell  ill  and  died,  when  just  ready  to  give  the  signal 
(January  30).  The  Committee  of  General  Safety  seized  his  papers, 
and  arrested  thirty  of  his  chief  accomplices.  The  outbreak,  never- 
theless, took  place  a  few  weeks  later  in  Brittany  and  in  a  portion 
of  Anjou  and  Poitou.  The  levy  of  three  hundred  thousand  men, 
which  was  to  take  place  on  the  10th  of  March,  was  the  occasion 
fixed  upon  for  the  uprising  of  the  peasantry,  who  were  usually 
opposed  to  military  service  throughout  the  West. 

Numerous  bands  of  peasants  in  different  parts  of  Brittany  at- 
tacked the  small  towns,  surprising  and  taking  several,  and  mas- 
sacring the  republican  authorities.  They  bore  a  particular  grudge 
against  the  district  authorities  charged  with  the  execution  of  the 
measures  which  had  excited  their  wrath.  At  La  Roche-Bernard, 
between  Nantes  and  Vannes,  the  insurgents  captured  Sauveur, 
the  president  of  the  district  directory,  and,  dragging  him  to  the 
foot  of  a  crucifix,  sought  to  force  him  to  make  a  public  apol- 
ogy. He  saluted  the  image  of  Christ,  but  replied  to  the  order  to 
shout  "Long  live  the  king!"  with  the  cry,  "Long  live  the  Repub- 
lic !  "  Barbarously  mutilated,  gashed,  and  riddled  with  bullets,  the 
young  hero  raised  himself  on  one  knee,  repeating,  "  Long  live  the 
Nation !  Long  live  the  Republic ! "  The  insurgents  were  able  to 
silence  him  only  by  dashing  out  his  brains  with  their  muskets.  In 


394  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

order  to  hallow  the  memory  of  this  martyr,  the  Convention  changed 
the  name  of  Roche-Bernard  to  that  of  Roche-Sauveur.  Napoleon, 
who  had  little  fondness  for  republican  heroes,  deprived  the  town 
of  this  appellation ;  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Republic  to  restore  it. 

The  insurrection  was  unsuccessful  in  Brittany.  The  principal 
Breton  towns  despatched  against  the  rebels  their  valiant  national 
guards,  together  with  the  regular  troops  and  a  part  of  the  peas- 
ants in  those  departments  of  the  Finisterre  and  the  C6tes-du-Nord 
where  the  old  Gallic  language  of  the  Lower  Bretons  is  still  spoken, 
and  which  remained  faithful  to  the  cause  of  the  Revolution.  The 
insurgent  Bretons  were  everywhere  beaten  and  dispersed,  except  in 
the  department  of  the  Lower  Loire,  called  the  Retz  district. 

It  was  not  in  Brittany,  but  in  Poitou  and  Lower  Anjou,  that  the 
real  war  of  the  West  progressed.  In  these  departments  were  found 
a  country  and  people  wholly  exceptional  in  France.  The  mari- 
time portion  of  the  departments  of  La  Vendee  and  the  Lower  Loire, 
called  the  Marais,  consisted  of  a  low,  marshy,  unhealthy,  and  barren 
soil,  intersected  by  numerous  small  rivers,  canals,  and  ditches,  and 
inhabited  by  a  poor  and  rude  population  that  by  turns  hunted, 
fished,  tilled  its  patches  of  land  surrounded  by  water,  and  lived  as 
much  on  the  sea  as  on  the  land. 

Leaving  the  sea  and  turning  toward  the  Levant,  you  entered  a 
country  that  presented  a  complete  contrast  to  the  Marais.  This 
country,  called  the  Bocage,  comprised  the  eastern  half  of  the  depart- 
ment of  La  Vende'e,  the  upper  portion  of  the  department  of  Deux- 
Sevres  (Central  Poitou),  and  half  of  the  department  of  Maine-et- 
Loire.  The  Marais  had  scarcely  a  tree ;  the  Bocage  seemed  an 
immense  forest,  the  fields  and  meadows  being  separated  from  each 
other  by  impenetrable  thickets  of  brambles,  broom,  and  thorn, 
which  overtopped  the  highest  trees.  This  labyrinth  of  vegetation 
was  traversed  only  by  narrow,  winding,  and  muddy  paths,  which 
were  impassable  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  This  dense  shade 
concealed  the  sparse  dwellings  of  a  people  who  were  simple,  honest, 
religious,  and  courageous,  but  profoundly  ignorant,  credulous  beyond 
measure,  and  almost  absolutely  indifferent  to  everything  out  of  sight 


1793.]  THE  REVOLT  OF   LA  VENDEE.  395 

of  their  church-spires.  The  influence  of  the  nobility  over  this 
people  was  inferior  to  that  of  the  priests;  the  cure  was  usually 
the  leader  of  his  parishioners,  and  when  the  greater  part  of  the 
rural  priesthood  were  first  held  in  suspicion  for  having  refused  to 
take  the  constitutional  oath,  and  afterwards  sentenced  to  banish- 
ment for  their  counter-revolutionary  proceedings,  the  peasants  of 
the  Bocage  and  the  Marais,  who  would  have  stirred  neither  for  king 
nor  nobles,  were  greatly  excited,  and  showed  signs  of  rebellion.  The 
disturbances  of  1790  and  1791  culminated,  as  we  have  said,  in  an 
insurrection  in  August,  1792.  Its  repression,  sanguinary  during 
the  conflict,  was  moderate  after  victory ;  the  courts  discharged  the 
peasants  who  had  been  taken  captive. 

This  clemency  did  not  appease  the  rural  districts.  The  refrac- 
tory priests,  sheltered  in  the  inaccessible  retreats  of  the  Bocage,  and 
seconded  by  a  body  of  active  and  enthusiastic  nuns  called  the  "  Sis- 
ters of  AVisdom,"  stirred  up  the  whole  country.  They  celebrated 
mass  in  the  open  air,  under  the  oaks,  for  throngs  suddenly  con- 
voked by  a  watchword,  while  the  constitutional  cures,  the  in- 
truders, as  they  were  called,  were  left  forsaken  and  menaced  in 
their  deserted  churches.  Pretended  miracles,  works  sometimes  of 
the  imagination  and  sometimes  of  imposture,  wrought  up  the 
popular  mind  to  the  highest  pitch  of  excitement.  Strange  phan- 
tasmagorical  scenes  were  displayed  by  night  throughout  the  coun- 
try. In  one  the  Devil  was  made  to  appear  under  the  form  of  a 
black  cat. 

The  levying  of  three  hundred  thousand  men  at  last  effected  what 
the  king's  death  had  been  unable  to  do.  None  had  taught  these 
poor  people  the  true  signification  of  France,  and  the  duty  of  citizens 
to  their  country.  They  knew  no  country  but  their  parishes;  the 
idea  of  leaving  home  to  defend  their  invaded  territory,  which  else- 
where made  so  many  heroes,  did  not  move  them  in  the  least.  Un- 
willing to  lose  sight  of  their  cottages  and  their  meadows,  they  fought 
at  home  to  avoid  fighting  elsewhere. 

On  March  10,  the  day  appointed  for  the  levying  of  the  three 
hundred  thousand,  the  tocsin  sounded  in  six  hundred  parishes  of 


396  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

the  Marais  and  the  Bocage.  At  Saint-Florent-sur-Loire  (Maine-et- 
Loire)  three  thousand  young  men  of  the  neighboring  cantons  rose 
against  the  requisition.  A  few  soldiers  and  a  cannon  were  sent 
against  them ;  they  threw  themselves  upon  the  cannon  and  cap- 
tured it.  The  outbreak  extended  to  the  whole  southern  part  of 
Maine-et-Loire,  Deux-Sevres,  and  Haute- Vendee. 

The  same  day  several  thousand  peasants  of  the  Marais  assailed 
the  town  of  Machecoul,  vanquished  the  handful  of  patriots  which 
advanced  to  meet  them  led  by  an  ex-member  of  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  and  killed  the  latter,  with  many  prominent  men  of 
Machecoul.  It  is  said  that  they  drove  the  patriots  from  the  town 
to  the  sound  of  the  horn,  as  if  they  were  hunting  wild  beasts.  The 
constitutional  cure  and  the  justice  of  the  peace  were  torn  in  pieces 
by  the  women,  who  were  even  more  fanatical  and  ferocious  than 
the  men.  The  Marais  invaders  installed  at  Machecoul  a  counter- 
revolutionary committee,  which  during  several  weeks  repeatedly 
renewed  the  scenes  of  September  2.  One  day  they  bound  sixty 
men  together,  ranged  them  on  the  edge  of  a  trench,  and  shot  them 
down.  This  was  called  the  cliapelet.  We  are  assured  that  they  did 
this  again  and  again,  forcing  the  batch  that  was  to  be  executed  on 
the  morrow  to  witness  the  executions  of  the  day.  In  the  neigh- 
boring hamlets  sub-committees  were  employed  to  arrest  the  pa- 
triots and  send  them  to  the  Machecoul  executioners.  Sometimes 
life  was  offered  the  prisoners  on  condition  of  renouncing  the  Ee- 
public.  They  did  not  accept  this  condition,  any  more  than  the 
priests  confined  in  the  Carmelite  prison  had  consented  to  swear 
fidelity  to  the  Constitution.  A  father  and  his  son  of  seventeen 
died  one  after  the  other,  refusing  to  cry,  "Long  live  the  king!" 
The  president  of  the  Machecoul  district  was  strangled,  after  having 
had  both  hands  sawed  off.  Massacres  also  took  place  in  other  parts 
of  the  Eetz  district  and  beyond  it. 

The  powerful  republican  city  of  Nantes  responded  to  the  Mache- 
coul atrocities  by  terrible  measures.  The  directory  of  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Lower  Loire  and  the  Nantes  municipality,  constituting 
themselves  a  dictatorship  for  the  public  safety,  and  forming  at 


1793.]  THE  EEVOLT  OF  LA  VENDEE.  397 

Nantes  an  extraordinary  tribunal  to  try  insurrectionists  without 
appeal,  decided  that  courts-martial  should  accompany  the  detach- 
ments of  armed  forces  sent  against  the  rebellion,  and  prescribed  the 
confiscation  of  rebel  property. 

The  people  of  Nantes,  aided  by  the  patriots  of  the  neighboring 
towns  and  villages,  began  an  implacable  war  against  the  "  Marais 
brigands." 

The  latter  had  a  formidable  chief  at  their  head.  The  ringleader 
of  the  insurrection,  the  organizer  of  the  counter-revolutionary  tri- 
bunal of  Machecoul,  was  not  a  soldier,  but  a  lawyer  named  Souchu, 
who  had  been  the  business  manager  of  one  of  the  Charettes, 
a  rich  family  of  ship-owners  at  Nantes.  Souchu  persuaded  the 
peasants  to  choose  as  their  commander  Athanase  Charette,  the 
nephew  of  his  former  patron.  Unscrupulous  and  pitiless,  unbri- 
dled in  his  passions,  and  ignorant,  although  he  had  been  a  naval 
officer,  he  was  daring,  ready  in  expedients,  and  endowed  with  real 
genius  for  guerilla  warfare.  Charette  resembled  the  famous  West- 
Indian  freebooters,  who  were  the  terror  of  the  Spaniards.  With 
him  began  and  ended  the  war  of  La  Vendee. 

At  the  outset,  cruel  as  he  was,  he  prevented  his  band  from 
slaughtering  the  women  after  the  men  who  had  been  captured  at 
Machecoul. 

The  war  in  the  Bocage,  although  marked  by  numerous  bloody 
scenes,  had  not  the  horribly  ferocious  character  of  the  Marais  in- 
surrection. Several  of  the  chiefs  who  directed  the  fanatical  courage 
of  the  Bocage  peasantry  have  left  a  renown  far  different  from  that 
of  the  Machecoul  butchers. 

The  first  who  made  himself  a  name,  and  who  retained  great  influ- 
ence during  his  brief  military  career,  was  a  brave  man,  half  peasant 
and  half  artisan,  named  Cathelineau.  Industrious,  moral,  and  as 
prudent  as  he  was  resolute,  he  was  wholly  under  priestly  control 
from  habit  as  well  as  piety.  Cathelineau  lived  in  the  village  of 
Pin-en-Mauge,  near  Beaupre"au.  The  day  after  the  affair  of  Saint- 
Florent  his  neighbors  sought  him  out,  and  placed  him  at  their  head, 
the  band  increasing  in  numbers  on  the  way.  He  led  it  to  the  castle 


398  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

of  Jallais,  which  was  occupied  by  a  republican  guard  with  a  piece 
of  cannon.  Just  as  the  cannon  was  ready  to  fire  he  cried  to  his 
soldiers,  "Fall  on  your  faces,  boys!"  and  the  shot  passed  over 
their  heads.  They  rose,  darted  forward,  and  slew  the  gunners  at 
their  post.  This  manoeuvre  was  henceforth  adopted  by  the  Ven- 
deans  with  frequent  success. 

Cathelineau,  reinforced  by  numerous  bands,  the  principal  one  of 
which  was  led  by  a  game-keeper  named  Stofflet,  assailed  the  little 
manufacturing  town  of  Chollet.  The  inhabitants,  who  were  ardent 
republicans,  had  less  than  a  thousand  men  to  oppose  to  almost  fif- 
teen thousand.  Their  commander,  formerly  a  great  nobleman,  the 
ex-Marquis  de  Beauvau,  gave  his  life  for  the  Eepublic,  while  the 
peasant  generals  were  fighting  for  the  Ancient  Regime. 

Chollet  was  taken.  The  peasants  abandoned  themselves,  not  to 
pillage,  but  to  murder;  in  their  detestation  of  the  citizens  and 
workingmen  of  Chollet  they  acted  in  the  most  cruel  manner.  They 
forced  their  prisoners  to  confess  their  sins,  and  shot  them  after- 
ward; constitutional  priests,  here  as  everywhere,  were  massacred. 
The  peasants  carried  away  a  number  of  prisoners,  to  expose  them 
to  the  first  fire  in  battle  at  the  head  of  their  columns. 

They  did  not,  however,  everywhere  show  the  same  fury.  There 
was  a  strange  confusion  of  ideas  among  them;  they  called  each 
other  "brothers  and  friends,"  like  the  Jacobins,  and  at  times  mingled 
with  their  pious  and  royalist  formulas  the  motto  of  the  Revolution, 
"  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity."  A  body  of  insurgents,  having  in- 
vaded the  little  town  of  Challons,  a  few  leagues  from  Machecoul, 
sent  a  letter  to  the  local  administrators,  who  had  fled,  offering  recip- 
rocal amnesty  on  condition  that  the  Catholic  religion  and  the  priests 
who  had  refused  to  take  the  oath  should  be  let  alone,  and  that  the 
drafting  for  militia  should  cease.  These  unfortunate  men  imagined 
that  the  administrators  of  one  small  district  had  the  power  to  ex- 
empt them  from  the  draft  for  three  hundred  thousand  soldiers. 

In  another  document  in  response  to  a  summons  to  lay  down  their 
arms,  which  was  sent  by  the  administrative  corps,  the  insurgents 
protested  against  the  epithet  of  aristocrats,  and  declared  that  during 


1793.]  THE  REVOLT  OF  LA  VENDEE. 

the  six  days  in  which  they  had  assembled  to  the  number  of  more 
than  twenty  thousand,  there  had  not  been  a  single  citizen  or  noble- 
man among  them. 

As  to  the  nobles,  their  absence  was  of  short  duration.  They 
hesitated,  having  little  faith  in  the  success  of  the  enterprise. 
The  peasants  sought  them  out  in  their  chateaux,  hoping  to  associate 
them  with  their  own  dangers  and  to  profit  by  their  military  experi- 
ence ;  but  they  treated  them  in  a  democratic  fashion.  The  Marquis 
de  Bonchamps  having  wished  to  ride  on  horseback,  they  obliged 
him  to  go  on  foot  like  themselves.  This  marquis  was  distinguished, 
amiable,  and  generous.  On  leaving  home  he  made  this  noble  part- 
ing speech  to  his  wife :  "  I  do  not  go  to  fight  for  glory ;  civil  wars 
have  none  to  give."  He  was  in  truth  no  better  adapted  to  civil 
war  than  another  gentleman  of  the  neighborhood,  M.  de  Lescure, 
who  possessed  the  same  humane  feeling,  united  with  austere  and 
fervent  piety.  The  nobles  usually  showed  more  humanity  than 
the  priests. 

Two  other  names  which  figured  prominently  in  this  war  should 
be  cited  among  the  nobles  of  Poitou,  —  D'Elbee,  an  ex-infantry 
officer,  a  man  of  mature  age,  ambitious  and  calculating  under  an 
external  show  of  ardent  piety,  and  Henri  de  la  Eochejacquelin,  a 
very  young  man,  whose  fine  face,  tall  stature,  and  impetuous  valor 
soon  rendered  him  highly  popular  in  the  insurrection.  In  his  first 
engagement  he  made  a  heroic  speech,  which  remains  famous :  "  If  I 
advance,  follow  me !  If  I  retreat,  kill  me !  If  I  die,  avenge  me ! " 

A  serious  combat  took  place,  March  19,  at  Chantonnai.  An  old 
general  officer,  named  Marce,  left  Eochelle  with  a  small  corps  of 
regular  soldiers,  which,  being  reinforced  by  national  guards  from 
Niort  and  its  environs,  had  penetrated  the  Bocage.  The  peasants 
at  first  gave  way  before  this  force,  and,  concealing  themselves  be- 
hind the  hedges,  rained  bullets  upon  the  soldiers,  who  received 
the  fire  without  being  able  to  return  it.  The  artillery  was  bemired 
in  the  marshy  roads ;  the  infantry  disbanded. 

This  success  in  the  Bocage  encouraged  the  people  of  the  Marais. 
Thousands  of  them  assailed  the  maritime  town  of  Sables-d'Olonne, 


400  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

wishing  to  obtain  possession  of  a  harbor,  so  as  to  receive  aid  from 
England.  The  little  garrison  and  the  inhabitants  made  a  vigorous 
sortie,  captured  the  artillery  of  the  besiegers,  and  put  them  to  flight 
(March  29). 

This  was  the  first  check  experienced  by  the  insurgents.  The 
danger  was  still  very  great.  There  were  less  than  two  thousand 
regular  soldiers  upon  this  coast,  and  the  little  scattered  villages  of 
the  Marais  and  the  Bocage  were  submerged  by  the  tide  of  rural 
insurrection.  Only  a  handful  of  national  guards  was  opposed  to 
this  mass  of  peasants,  and  their  best  soldiers  were  far  away  in  the 
army. 

The  minister  of  war  knew  not  where  to  find  soldiers  to  send  to 
La  Vendee.  The  first  assistance  came  from  the  national  guards  of 
Bordeaux,  Brest,  Nantes,  and  Angers.  Had  the  insurrection  pos- 
sessed a  single  and  strategic  aim,  they  would  have  arrived  too  late ; 
happily,  they  had  to  deal  with  detached  bands,  and  not  with  an 
army.  These  bands  united  one  day  only  to  disperse  the  next ;  they 
had  a  hundred  petty  chiefs,  and  not  one  leader. 

The  Nantais  soldiers  soon  gained  the  advantage  over  the  Marais 
peasants.  Early  in  April  delegates  from  the  Convention  had  finally 
succeeded  in  collecting  at  Angers  seventeen  thousand  men,  partly 
national  guards  and  partly  regular  soldiers,  but  of  indifferent  quality, 
and  badly  generalled.  The  columns  of  soldiers  from  Angers,  after 
crossing  the  Loire,  at  first  met  with  some  success ;  but  they  were 
afterward  beaten  and  put  to  rout  at  Vihiers,  Beaupreau,  and  Aubiers 
(April  16).  The  inaccessibility  of  the  positions,  the  murderous  skill 
of  the  hunters  and  poachers,  who  were  numerous  among  the  insur- 
gents, and  above  all,  the  savage  intrepidity  with  which  the  masses 
of  peasants  rushed  upon  the  bayonets  and  cannon,  decided  the  vic- 
tory in  favor  of  the  rebels.  They  pursued  the  division  conquered  at 
Aubiers,  from  Bressuire  to  Thouars,  and  captured  Thouars  with  its 
general,  magazines,  and  artillery  (May  5). 

Two  influential  ecclesiastics  connected  with  the  insurrection, 
Bernier,  curate  of  Saint-Laud-d' Angers,  and  the  Benedictine  Jagault, 
bethought  themselves  of  an  expedient  which  was  calculated  to 


1793.]  THE  REVOLT  OF  LA  VENDEE.  401 

redouble  the  enthusiasm  of  the  multitude.  The  emigrant  bishops 
of  Luqon,  Poitiers,  and  Rochelle  had  stirred  up  rebellion  from  a 
distance,  but  had  not  returned  to  join  the  rebels.  Bernier  and 
Jagault  set  up  a  fictitious  bishop,  —  a  priest  who  had  first  supported 
and  afterwards  opposed  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy,  and  whom 
they  palmed  off  as  bishop  in  partibus  of  Agra  in  India.  He  officiated 
in  the  pontifical  character  before  the  insurgents,  who  were  enraptured 
at  having  a  bishop  at  their  head,  and  the  "royal  and  Catholic  army" 
resumed  its  march  with  fresh  ardor.  It  was  an  army  without  uni- 
form, save  the  great  round  hat  and  sabots  of  the  Poitiers  peasantry, 
but  each  man  bore  on  his  breast  for  a  rallying-sign  a  heart  of  red 
cloth  surmounted  by  a  cross.  This  was  the  "  Sacred  Heart,"  a  sym- 
bol of  devotion  introduced  by  the  Jesuits,  and  now  used  as  a  token 
of  civil  war. 

The  leaders  aimed  at  taking  possession  of  Fontenay,  the  chief 
town  of  La  Vende'e.  At  La  Chataigneraie  they  met  General  Chal- 
bos,  who  had  scarcely  more  than  two  thousand  men,  but  all  picked 
troops.  Chalbos  evacuated  the  town  on  the  13th  of  May,  but  not 
without  a  bloody  resistance.  This  time  the  peasants  pillaged  the 
city,  and  the  greater  portion  of  them  returned  home,  some  to  secure 
their  booty  and  others  to  revisit  their  families. 

The  leaders,  however,  pursued  their  march  upon  Fontenay  with 
ten  thousand  men.  Chalbos  had  just  received  a  reinforcement  of 
three  thousand  soldiers  and  national  guards.  He  boldly  advanced 
against  the  insurgents,  broke  their  ranks,  and  put  them  to  flight 
(May  16). 

The  Vendean  chiefs  made  a  great  effort.  At  the  summons  of  the 
supposed  priests  the  peasants  rallied  from  all  sides.  Bonchamps, 
who  had  not  taken  part  in  the  combat,  rejoined  D'Elbee,  Lescure, 
La  Ptochejaquelin,  Cathelineau,  and  Stofflet,  with  his  men.  May 
25  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  men  renewed  the  attack  upon 
Fontenay.  Chalbos  and  his  brave  comrades  were  overpowered  by 
numbers,  and  Fontenay  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  insurgents.  The 
Vendean  leaders  prevented  massacre  and  pillage. 

The  capture  of  Fontenay  seemed  destined  to  be  productive  of 
26 


THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

disastrous  consequences.  The  chief  towns  of  the  neighboring  de- 
partments, Niort,  La  Eochelle,  and  Poitiers,  were  menaced;  these 
regions  were  almost  entirely  stripped  of  soldiers ;  but  beyond  Fon- 
tenay  and  Thouars,  the  peasantry,  unlike  that  of  the  Bocage  and 
the  Marais,  favored  the  Eevolution.  The  populace  rose  en  masse, 
men,  women,  and  children,  to  succor  Niort ;  and  the  delegates  of 
the  Convention  were  obliged  to  request  the  communes  to  send  none 
but  well-armed  and  able-bodied  men. 

The  Vendean  leaders  made  no  further  effort  in  this  direction, 
their  men  wishing  to  return  home.  They  evacuated  Fontenay  on 
the  30th  of  May.  Their  design  was  to  organize  themselves  strongly 
in  the  country  which  they  ruled,  and  to  direct  their  operations 
toward  the  Loire,  where  they  thought  they  could  assail  the  Kepublic 
most  effectively. 

We  have  summed  up  the  first  period  of  the  fatal  war  of  La  Ven- 
dee. We  must  now  return  from  the  West  to  the  Centre,  to  Paris 
and  the  North. 

The  first  tidings  of  the  revolt  of  La  Vende'e  had,  for  the  moment, 
united  the  Gironde  and  the  Mountain  in  a  common  indignation 
against  a  rebellion  which  attacked  the  Kepublic  in  the  rear  while 
foreign  armies  assailed  it  in  front.  The  Girondists  were  the  first 
to  propose  rigorous  measures  (March  19). 

The  creation  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal  had  in  theory  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  Eeign  of  Terror.  La  Vendee  called  forth  its  first 
application  on  a  large  scale.  The  military  commissions  and  the 
ordinary  tribunals  became  so  many  revolutionary  tribunals  in  the 
West. 

The  increasing  peril  inflamed  the  public  mind  more  and  more. 
There  was  great  anxiety  in  regard  to  the  Ehine  and  Belgium.  The 
king  of  Prussia  with  far  superior  forces  menaced  Custine's  army 
near  Mayence,  and  events  of  the  greatest  consequence  were  trans- 
piring in  Dumouriez's  army.  March  14  the  president  of  the  Con- 
vention had  received  from  Dumouriez,  who  had  returned  from  Dutch 
Brabant  to  Brussels,  a  letter  of  such  importance  that,  instead  of 
laying  it  before  the  Assembly,  he  carried  it  to  the  Committee  of  Gen- 


1793.]  THE  REVOLT  OF  LA  VENDEE.  403 

eral  Defence.  In  this  letter  Dumouriez  vehemently  attacked  the 
famous  decree  of  December  15,  which  had  ordered  the  establish- 
ment of  the  revolutionary  government  in  countries  occupied  by  the 
French  armies;  and  accused  the  French  commissioners  of  having 
effected  the  annexation  of  the  Belgian  provinces  to  France  by  means 
of  violence.  He  made  himself  the  representative  of  all  Belgian 
grievances,  treated  as  robbery  the  seizure  of  a  portion  of  the  silver 
plate  of  the  churches  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  war,  and  pretended 
that  her  own  excesses  had  incited  the  people  to  a  "sacred  war" 
against  France.  While  declaring,  indeed,  that  he  impatiently  awaited 
the  decision  of  the  Convention,  he  stated  that  he  had  been  obliged 
to  adopt  urgent  measures  against  French  agents  and  against  the 
"  club  men  "  in  Belgium. 

The  committee  was  about  to  send  this  letter  to  the  Convention, 
and  to  demand  the  indictment  of  Dumouriez,  when  Danton  vio- 
lently opposed  it,  declaring  that  Dumouriez  was  still  popular  with 
the  army,  and  that  the  best  course  was  to  persuade  him  to  recall 
his  letter.  He  and  his  friend  Lacroix  offered  to  go  in  person  to 
Dumouriez,  with  Guadet  and  Gensonne,  two  Girondists  of  the  com- 
mittee. The  two  latter  unwisely  refused  to  go,  and  Danton  and 
Lacroix  departed  alone,  arriving  amid  the  tumult  of  military  events. 

I)umouriez  had  written  an  offensive  letter  to  the  Convention  only 
to  provoke  some  rigorous  decree  which  would  furnish  him  a  pretext 
for  rebellion.  The  resumption  of  hostilities  by  the  Austrians  upon 
the  Meuse  having  prevented  him  from  carrying  out  the  first  part 
of  his  plan,  the  invasion  of  Holland,  he  now  thought  of  renewing 
against  the  Austrians  his  Jemmapes  triumph,  then  of,  treating  with 
them  after  victory,  and  marching  to  overthrow  the  Convention, 

The  Austrians  had  crossed  the  Meuse  and  advanced  upon  the 
road  to  Brussels.  Dumouriez  quickly  rallied,  reorganized  at  Lou- 
vain  the  main  body  of  his  army,  and  hastening  on  he  drove  the 
Austrian  van  from  Tirlemont.  The  enemy's  general,  Coburg,  fell 
back  upon  the  heights  of  Little  Ghette  to  the  East,  in  the  environs 
of  the  village  of  Keerwinden,  the  scene  of  the  great  French  victory 
in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV. 


404  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

Dumouriez,  as  at  Jemmapes,  ordered  an  attack;  but  this  time 
his  advantage  In  numbers  did  not  compensate  for  his  disadvanta- 
geous position.  Historians  disagree  concerning  the  size  of  the  two 
armies ;  the  forces  seem  to  have  been  nearly  equal  in  numbers,  — 
less  than  forty  thousand  upon  each  side,  —  but  the  enemy  was  much 
superior  in  cavalry,  and  its  troops  were  in  better  condition  than 
those  of  the  French. 

The  French  soldiers  showed  the  same  valor  as  at  Jemmapes; 
they  crossed  the  little  river  Ghette,  and  rushed  to  storm  the 
heights.  The  right  wing  and  the  centre,  which  were  led  by  Du- 
mouriez and  the  ex-Duke  of  Chartres,  Louis  Philippe,  gained  some 
advantage,  near  ISTeerwinden,  which  was  several  times  lost  and  re- 
taken ;  but  the  left  wing,  after  long  and  bloody  efforts  against  for- 
midable positions,  was  finally  repulsed,  and  driven  back  upon  Tirle- 
mont.  The  rest  of  the  army  recrossed  the  little  Ghette  (March  17). 

Danton  and  Lacroix  reached  the  camp  the  day  after  the  battle. 
They  could  obtain  no  satisfaction  from  Dumouriez,  and  perceived 
that  nothing  was  to  be  hoped  from  him.  Whether  victorious  or 
vanquished,  he  was  determined  upon  treason ;  and  his  defeat  only 
changed  its  terms,  which  he  could  not  hope  to  dictate,  but  which 
he  must  content  himself  with  accepting.  He  could  no  longer 
dream  of  imposing  a  prince  of  Orleans  upon  France. 

He  had  fallen  back  from  Tirlemont  upon  the  river  Dyle  and 
upon  Louvain,  where  on  March  22  he  was  attacked  by  the  enemy. 
During  the  whole  day  his  forces  successfully  repulsed  the  Austrian 
assaults ;  but  toward  evening  disorder  broke  out  in  two  divisions 
which  recrossed  the  Dyle.  Dumouriez  evacuated  his  positions  on 
this  river,  and  the  very  next  day  abandoned  Brussels  and  retreated 
toward  Dender. 

The  same  day,  March  23,  he  sent  one  of  his  aides-de-camp  to 
open  a  secret  negotiation  with  the  Prince  of  Coburg,  under  pretext 
of  an  exchange  of  prisoners.  Coburg  replied  by  sending  to  Dumou- 
riez his  chief-of-staff,  Colonel  Mack.  Dumouriez  told  Mack  plainly 
that  it  was  his  wish  to  disperse  the  Convention,  restore  constitu- 
tional royalty,  proclaim  the  son  of  Louis  XVI.  king,  and  save 


1793.]  THE  REVOLT  OF  LA  VENDEE.  405 

the  queen,  and  demanded  Coburg's  assistance  in  carrying  out  his 
plans. 

Mack  demanded,  as  a  preliminary  condition,  the  total  evacuation 
of  Belgium.  Dumouriez  consented  (March  25). 

He,  in  fact,  recrossed  the  frontier  on  the  29th  of  March,  after  a 
second  interview  with  Mack.  The  latter  had  preferred  a  new  de- 
mand, —  the  surrender  of  several  frontier  places  to  the  Austrians  as 
depots,  —  which  Dumouriez  also  promised. 

The  news  of  the  check  at  Neerwinden  had  caused  much  feeling 
in  Paris ;  nevertheless,  when  Marat  on  the  21st  of  March  mounted 
the  tribune  and  accused  Dumouriez  of  treason,  the  Convention  rose 
against  him,  and  the  mob  itself  hissed  him  as  he  went  out.  They 
could  not  make  up  their  minds  to  look  on  the  general  of  Valmy 
and  Jemmapes  as  a  traitor.  Nevertheless,  the  Convention  decreed 
measures  in  conformity  with  the  public  alarm.  It  reorganized  the 
Committee  of  General  Defence,  composing  it  of  Girondists,  Moun- 
taineers, and  deputies  of  the  Centre ;  prescribed  the  formation  of  a 
surveillance  committee  in  all  the  sections  of  the  Republic;  and 
ordained  the  disarming  of  suspected  individuals  (March  25  -  28). 

Robespierre,  who  was  always  ready  to  take  the  initiative  in  rig- 
orous measures,  demanded  the  indictment  of  Marie  Antoinette  and 
the  banishment  of  the  Bourbons,  with  the  exception  of  the  son  of 
"  Capet,"  who  was  to  remain  a  prisoner  in  the  Temple.  The  prop- 
osition was  rejected. 

It  was  impossible,  however,  long  to  remain  blind  as  to  the  plans 
of  Dumouriez.  The  reports  of  the  French  agents  left  no  room  for 
doubt.  March  30  the  Convention  summoned  Dumouriez  to  its  bar, 
and  ordered  the  minister  of  war,  General  Beurnonville,  to  depart 
instantly  for  the  army  of  the  North,  accompanied  by  four  commis- 
sioners empowered  to  suspend  and  arrest  all  generals,  functiona- 
ries, and  other  citizens  who  might  appear  to  them  under  suspicion. 
The  minister  and  the  four  members  of  the  Convention  joined 
Dumouriez  on  the  evening  of  April  1,  at  his  headquarters  at  Saint- 
Amand. 

To  the  summons  to  appear  before  the  Convention,  Dumouriez 


406  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

replied  that  in  the  present  state  of  things  he  could  not  leave  his 
soldiers.  After  a  somewhat  lengthy  discussion  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners, Camus,  an  energetic  and  austere  Jansenist,  addressed  a 
formal  summons  to  the  general. 

"  Are  you  willing  to  obey  the  decree  of  the  Convention  ? " 

"No!" 

"  In  conformity  with  the  decree,  we  shall  place  seals  upon  your 
papers." 

The  officers  around  Dumouriez  murmured  angrily,  and  threatened 
the  commissioners.  The  menaces  were  unheeded,  and  the  intrepid 
Camus  said :  "  As  for  you,  general,  you  are  disobeying  the  law ;  we 
declare  you  suspended  from  your  functions." 

"  Call  the  hussars ! "  cried  Dumouriez. 

Thirty  hussars  entered;  they  belonged  to  a  foreign  regiment. 
Dumouriez  had  not  dared  to  order  French  soldiers  to  lay  their 
hands  upon  the  representatives  of  the  people. 

Dumouriez  arrested  the  minister  of  war  and  the  four  delegates  of 
the  Convention.  The  minister  was  wounded  in  defending  himself. 
The  next  day  Dumouriez  delivered  the  whole  five  as  hostages  to 
the  Austrians,  announcing  to  the  Prince  of  Coburg  that  he  was 
about  to  march  upon  Paris,  and  that  in  case  of  need  he  counted 
upon  the  assistance  of  Austrian  soldiers. 

A  fifth  representative  of  the  people  was  on  the  point  of  being 
taken  and  delivered  up  with  the  four  others.  This  was  Carnot, 
who  was  then  on  a  mission  to  the  frontier,  and  whom  a  mere  chance 
had  prevented  from  accompanying  his  colleagues.  This  fortunate 
accident  preserved  to  France  the  man  who  was  "to  organize 
victory." 

The  arrest  of  the  minister  and  representatives  was  only  the 
beginning  of  Dumouriez's  design ;  he  had  now  to  carry  off  his  army 
from  its  quarters  on  the  Scheldt,  in  the  encampments  of  Maulde 
and  Bruille  near  Conde*,  and  take  possession  of  the  important  French 
towns  in  the  North.  He  endeavored  unsuccessfully  to  effect  the 
arrest  of  the  three  commissioners  of  the  Convention  who  were  at 
Valenciennes,  and '  to  persuade  the  garrisons  and  the  inhabitants  of 


1793.]  THE  TREASON  OF  DUMOURIEZ.  407 

Valenciennes  and  Lisle  to  declare  in  his  favor.  On  the  contrary,  it 
was  his  agents  that  were  arrested  by  order  of  the  representatives 
and  the  local  authorities  (April  2). 

While  Dumouriez's  accomplices  failed  at  Lisle  and  Valenciennes, 
he  presented  himself  in  person  at  the  encampment  of  Bruille  on  the 
2d,  and  at  the  Maulde  encampment  on  the  3d  of  April,  having  been 
heralded  by  a  proclamation  in  which  he  announced  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  Constitution  of  1791,  and  declared  that  he  had  safely 
secured  the  commissioners  of  the  Convention  who  had  come  to 
arrest  him  in  the  midst  of  his  soldiers,  —  his  "  children." 

The  attachment  of  the  army  to  Dumouriez  was  so  strong  that,  in 
spite  of  all  that  had  happened,  the  majority  of  the  soldiers  at  first 
received  him  kindly.  He  was  still  hopeful ;  but  Carnot  and  four 
other  commissioners  from  the  Convention  who  were  at  Valenciennes 
and  Douai  acted  vigorously  against  him,  and  were  faithfully  seconded 
by  the  department  of  the  North.  They  suspended  Dumouriez  from 
his  office  as  a  rebel,  ordered  him  to  be  seized,  dead  or  alive,  and 
transferred  the  chief  command  to  General  Dampierre,  the  brave 
commander  of  the  right  wing  at  Jemmapes,  who  had  just  declared 
himself  in  favor  of  the  Convention  at  Valenciennes.  Trusty  agents 
had  been  sent  to  the  camps  of  Maulde  and  Bruille  to  enlighten  the 
soldiers  concerning  the  crime  into  which  Dumouriez  had  sought  to 
lead  them. 

Dumouriez,  unable  to  introduce  the  Austrians  into  Lisle  and 
Valenciennes,  tried  at  least  to  deliver  to  them  the  little  town  of 
Conde*.  At  four  in  the  morning  he  left  his  headquarters  at  St.  Amand 
with  the  ex-Duke  of  Chartres,  a  few  officers,  and  cavalry.  His 
design  had  been  divulged;  a  league  from  Cond4  he  met  three 
battalions  of  volunteers,  who  had  left  the  camp  of  Bruille  with- 
out orders,  to  rescue  Conde".  A  battalion  from  Yonne,  whose  com- 
mander was  afterwards  the  famous  Marshal  Davoust,  fired  upon 
Dumouriez  and  his  escort.  Dumouriez  fled,  pursued  by  the  vol- 
unteers, and  would  have  been  captured  had  he  not  chanced  to 
find  a  boat  on  the  banks  of  the  Scheldt  in  which  he  gained  the 
Belgian  shore. 


408  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

He  was  rejoined  by  Mack,  the  Austrian  chief-of-staff,  and  received 
tidings  that  the  camp  at  Bruille  had  manifested  great  indignation  at 
the  attempt  of  the  volunteers  against  his  life.  His  courage  revived, 
he  arranged  measures  with  Mack  relative  to  co-operating  with  the 
Prince  of  Coburg,  and  returned  the  next  morning  (April  5)  to  the 
camp  at  Maulde,  escorted  by  Austrian  dragoons. 

This  was  altogether  too  audacious.  At  the  sight  of  the  white 
uniforms  of  the  dragoons,  a  shudder  ran  through  the  French  ranks. 
A  quartermaster  stepped  forward  and  cried  to  Dumouriez,  "What 
are  these  people  doing  here?" 

"  I  have  made  peace,"  replied  Dumouriez ;  "  the  enemy  are  now 
our  friends." 

"You  are  leading  them  to  France,"  replied  the  quartermaster, 
"  and  mean  to  betray  our  cities  into  their  hands !  Treason !  Trea- 
son ! " 

A  thousand  voices  took  up  the  cry.  The  volunteers  burst  into 
a  rage.  The  regular  soldiers,  silent  and  gloomy,  had  their  eyes 
opened  at  last.  The  artillery  put  horses  to  the  cannon,  broke  away 
from  the  officers  who  sought  to  restrain  them,  and  set  out  for 
Valenciennes.  The  volunteer  battalions  followed  their  example,  to- 
gether with  a  portion  of  the  regular  troops.  The  regiments  which 
still  defended  Dumouriez  declared  that  they  would  not  fight  against 
their  brothers.  All  was  lost  for  Dumouriez.  He  yielded  at  last, 
and,  followed  by  a  number  of  officers  and  a  few  hundred  soldiers, 
he  crossed  the  frontier,  this  time  forever. 

La  Fayette  and  Dumouriez  had  both  fallen  from  power  into  exile, 
under  similar  circumstances,  but  with  far  different  behavior  and 
feelings.  La  Fayette,  remaining  a  great  citizen  even  in  his  mis- 
takes, was  destined  after  a  few  years  honorably  to  resume  his  part 
in  public  affairs ;  Dumouriez  ended,  as  an  adventurer  and  conspira- 
tor, a  career  begun  in  intrigue  and  for  a  few  months  illumined 
with  glory ;  he  never  reappeared  upon  the  stage  of  history. 

His  treason  had  not  only  endangered  the  army  of  the  frontier, 
but  was  destined  to  be  productive  of  terrible  results.  The  general 
who  had  saved  the  Republic  having  afterward  betrayed  it,  traitors 


GENERAL    DUMOUKIEZ. 


1793.]  THE  TREASON  OF  DUMOURIEZ.  409 

were  suspected  everywhere.  The  misconduct  of  Dumouriez  revived 
the  Eeign  of  Terror,  and  seemed  to  justify  Marat,  the  everlasting 
informer.  Many  innocent  generals  paid  the  penalty  of  his  crime. 

Danton,  on  his  return  from  Belgium,  had  delivered  before  the 
Convention,  March  30,  a  highly  patriotic  speech  on  the  public  dan- 
gers and  the  necessity  of  union,  in  reply  to  the  attacks  of  the 
Girondists.  During  the  night  of  March  31,  however,  the  Com- 
mittee of  Surveillance,  controlled  by  the  Mountain  party,  while 
taking  the  precautionary  measures  prescribed  against  persons  sus- 
pected of  aiming  at  the  restoration  of  royalty,  caused  seals  to  be 
placed  on  Roland's  papers.  The  Girondists  attributed  this  offence 
to  Danton,  and  at  the  session  of  April  1  Lasource  and  other  Giron- 
dists accused  him  of  having  gone  to  Belgium  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  conspiring  with  Dumouriez.  Danton,  driven  to  extremities, 
turned  against  his  pursuers  with  the  rage  of  a  lion  at  bay. 

He  easily  exculpated  himself  from  complicity  with  Dumouriez, 
by  showing  that  his  policy  in  Belgian  affairs  had  been  diametrically 
opposed  to  that  of  the  general  He  was  called  upon  to  account  for 
the  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  committed  to  him  on  his  departure 
for  Belgium.  He  referred  to  Cambon,  who  declared  that  this  sum 
represented  only  the  expenses  indispensable  for  carrying  out  the 
decree  of  December  15.  Danton  violently  resumed  the  offensive. 

"  Citizens,"  cried  he  to  the  Mountaineers,  "  you  judged  better 
than  L  You  accused  me  of  weakness  toward  those  men  [pointing 
to  the  Girondists] ;  you  were  right !  Rally,  therefore,  you  who 
decreed  the  death  of  the  tyrant  against  the  cowards  who  wished  to 
spare  him !  Summon  the  people  against  both  the  foes  within  and 
without,  and  confound  all  aristocrats,  all  conservatives,  all  who  have 
calumniated  you  in  the  departments !  Let  there  be  no  more  tem- 
porizing with  them !  Subject  my  conduct  and  that  of  my  enemies 
to  the  most  rigid  scrutiny !  I  do  not  fear  my  accusers.  I  have 
intrenched  myself  within  the  citadel  of  right;  I  shall  march  out 
with  the  artillery  of  truth,  and  shall  grind  to  powder  the  miscreants 
who  have  sought  to  impeach  me ! " 

Marat  demanded  that  traitors  should  be  struck  down  wherever 


410  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

found,  even  among  the  members  of  the  Convention.  A  Girondist 
supported  Marat's  proposition,  declaring  that  when  liberty  was  men- 
aced on  all  sides  every  species  of  inviolability  should  cease. 

The  Convention,  "considering  the  safety  of  the  people  the  su- 
preme law,"  declared  that,  without  regard  to  the  inviolability  of  a 
single  representative  of  the  French  nation,  it  should  decree  the 
indictment  of  those  against  whom  there  were  strong  presumptions 
of  complicity  with  the  enemies  of  liberty,  equality,  and  republican 
government. 

Each  of  the  two  parties  hoped  to  apply  to  the  other  this  fatal 
decree,  which  was  to  strike  both  by  turns. 

The  anarchical  committee  of  the  ^veche  believed  that  its  day 
had  come,  and  voted  for  insurrection ;  but  the  sections  repudiated 
their  pretended  representatives,  and  the  Jacobins,  not  excepting 
Marat,  their  leader,  declared  themselves  opposed  to  the  movement. 
The  commune,  at  first  persuaded  to  insurrectionary  views,  once 
more  drew  back. 

The  arrest  of  the  Convention's  commissioners  by  Dumouriez  and 
his  open  revolt  were  known  in  Paris  on  the  3d  of  April.  Bad  news 
came  also  from  the  army  of  the  Khine.  The  king  of  Prussia  had 
crossed  that  river  with  greatly  superior  forces,  and  had  attacked 
General  Custine  and  driven  him  back  u]x>n  Wissembourg  with  half 
his  army,  while  the  other  half — twenty-two  thousand  men  —  was 
shut  up  in  Mayence. 

The  energy  of  the  Convention  grew  with  the  danger.  It  renewed 
and  extended  the  powers  of  representatives  sent  upon  missions  to 
the  armies,  increased  their  number,  and  authorized  them  to  do 
whatever  might  be  requisite  for  the  success  of  military  operations 
and  for  the  maintenance  of  republican  principles  among  the  de- 
fenders of  the  country.  Physicians,  lawyers,  merchants,  artists, 
and  even  officers  of  inferior  rank  like  Carnot,  were  elevated  by  the 
Convention  above  the  generals.  Such  a  proceeding,  which  at  any 
other  time  would  have  been  ridiculous,  was  now  efficient  and  terrible. 
The  foreign  powers  who  at  first  derided  it  soon  ceased  their  jeers. 

It  was  at  this  epoch  that  the  Convention  prescribed  for  its  repre- 


1793.]         THE  COMMITTEE  OF  PUBLIC  WELFARE.  411 

sentatives  who  were  sent  on  embassies,  to  elevate  them  in  the  eyes 
of  the  soldiery,  the  costume  which  has  remained  so  famous,  the 
round  hat  with  tricolored  plumes,  shoulder-belt,  girdle,  and  crooked 
sabre.  It  also  decreed  the  formation  of  a  camp  of  forty  thousand 
men  near  Paris. 

To  insure  greater  promptness  in  the  action  of  the  revolutionary 
tribunal,  the  Convention  suppressed  the  commission  chosen  from 
its  ranks,  which  took  the  initiative  in  criminal  proceedings,  and 
reserved  to  itself  the  prerogative  of  indictments.  The  right  of 
accusing  any  citizen,  excepting  representatives,  ministers,  and  gen- 
erals, was  conferred  on  the  public  prosecutor.  This  was  judicial 
dictatorship.  The  public  prosecutor  was  Fouquier-Tinville,  a  man 
hitherto  obscure,  but  who  soon  became  too  celebrated  (April  5,  6). 

On  the  4th  £galit^  fits  (Louis  Philippe)  had  been  summoned  to 
the  bar  of  the  Convention.  On  the  6th,  the  news  being  received 
that  he,  like  Dumouriez,  had  crossed  the  frontier,  a  warrant  of 
arrest  was  issued  against  his  father  and  some  other  members  of 
the  Bourbon  family  remaining  in  France. 

The  ex-Duke  of  Orleans  was  thus  the  first  of  the  people's  repre- 
sentatives to  suffer  from  the  abolition  of  inviolability.  His  eldest 
son,  leaving  Belgium,  took  refuge  in  Switzerland,  where  he  lived  for 
some  time  under  an  assumed  name,  seeking  to  be  forgotten  until  he 
could  again  play  a  leading  part  in  the  world.  For  this  he  had  to 
wait  many  long  years,  and  he  owed  his  success  at  last  to  the  oppor- 
tunities arising  from  a  series  of  extraordinary  events.  We  have  seen 
how  little  this  Orleans  party,  about  which  so  much  noise  had  been 
made,  had  to  do  with  the  Revolution.  It  vanished  like  a  shadow. 

April  6,  1793,  the  Convention  adopted  the  most  important  of  all 
its  measures.  The  Committee  of  General  Safety,  composed  of  twenty- 
five  members,  had  demanded  the  formation,  in  its  place,  of  a  com- 
mittee of  nine  members  chosen  from  the  Convention,  who  should 
have  surveillance  and  authority  over  the  executive  council  (the 
ministers),  and  should  take  such  measures  for  the  general  defence 
as  circumstances  might  require.  This  committee  of  nine  was  to 
deliberate  in  secret.  The  ministers  would  be,  in  fact,  merely  clerks 


412  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

of  the  committee.  A  dictatorship  of  nine  persons  was  formed  in 
this  manner. 

The  Convention  passed  the  proposition.  Thus  was  founded  the 
COMMITTEE  OF  PUBLIC  WELFARE. 

The  Convention  sought  to  diminish  the  peril  by  decreeing  that 
the  committee  should  be  changed  every  month.  The  first  list  of 
the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  was  drawn  up  in  a  conciliatory 
spirit.  It  contained  neither  the  Girondist  leaders  nor  Robespierre. 
Its  two  principal  members  were  Danton  and  Cambon.  Cambon,  be- 
sides, retained  his  supremacy  over  the  finances,  the  public  treasury 
alone  remaining  outside  the  prerogatives  of  the  committee.  Danton, 
his  anger  once  over,  was  himself  again.  "  Let  us  become  reconciled 
like  brothers,"  he  said  in  the  session  of  April  4 ;  "  it  is  for  the  safety 
of  us  alL  If  the  counter-revolution  triumphs,  it  will  proscribe  all 
who  have  borne  the  name  of  patriot,  of  whatever  shade  of  party." 

April  8  and  10  petitions  emanating  from  the  two  sections  de- 
manded of  the  Convention  the  indictment  of  the  Girondist  leaders. 
Discussions  of  constantly  increasing  violence  ensued  in  the  Conven- 
tion, while  the  Right  and  the  Left  wellnigh  came  to  blows.  In 
consequence  of  a  new  diatribe  from  Robespierre  against  the  "  trea- 
sonable acts  "  of  the  Girondists,  his  old  friend,  the  equable  Petion, 
lost  patience,  and  said  to  him  that  it  was  he  and  his  friends  who 
were  traitors  and  calumniators,  and  who  deserved  to  lose  their 
heads. 

Guadet  supported  Petion  by  reading  from  the  tribune  an  address 
to  the  people  signed  by  Marat  as  president  of  the  Jacobins,  and 
which  was  a  summons  to  arms.  This  document  declared  that  the 
government  and  the  National  Convention  were  the  counter-revolu- 
tion. Indignant  cries  arose :  "  Take  Marat  to  the  Abbaye !  Let 
Marat  be  brought  to  trial!" 

"  Do  not  break  up  the  Convention ! "  cried  Danton,  who  had  a 
foreboding  that  after  Marat  many  others  would  follow. 

The  indictment  of  Marat  was  voted  by  a  large  majority  (April  12). 

A  most  beautiful  and  touching  ceremony  for  a  moment  diverted 
public  attention  from  the  excitement  aroused  by  Marat's  trial. 


1793.]      THE  PETITION  AGAINST   THE  GIRONDISTS.          413 

April  14  the  Convention  and  the  commune  gave  a  solemn  reception 
to  the  Liegeois  refugees  who  had  thronged  to  Paris.  The  liege 
authorities  brought  hither  the  archives  of  their  city  to  deposit  at 
the  Hotel  de  Villa  The  people  of  Paris  received  these  emigrants 
of  liberty  with  a  truly  fraternal  affection.  The  Parisians  had  sworn 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  remain  forever  united  with  the  Liegeois, 
those  new  Frenchmen,  and  forever  united  among  themselves.  The 
very  next  day  the  leaders  of  the  sections  and  commune  presented  to 
the  Convention  a  petition  expressing,  they  said,  the  prayer  of  Paris, 
that  twenty-two  delegates,  "guilty  of  felony  to  the  sovereign  people," 
should  be  dismissed  from  the  Assembly,  after  the  majority  of  the 
departments  had  assented  to  this  request.  Among  these  twenty- 
two  were  Brissot,  Vergniaud,  Guadet,  Gensonne,  Buzot,  Barbaroux, 
and  Petion. 

"  I  am  indignant,"  cried  the  Girondist  Boyer-Fonfrede,  "  that  my 
name  is  not  inscribed  upon  the  honorable  list  which  has  just  been 
presented  to  you ! " 

"And  so  are  we  all  of  us, — all  of  us !"  cried  three  fourths  of  the 
Assembly. 

"  Let  the  petitioners  refer  their  request  to  the  primary  assemblies, 
that  is  to  say,  to  the  people ! "  resumed  Boyer-Fonfrede,  appealing 
to  the  departments. 

The  Mountain  was  troubled  at  perceiving  that  it  would  not  have 
the  majority  here. 

The  commune,  at  its  evening  session,  declared  that  it  did  not  ask 
for  primary  assemblies,  but  for  the  punishment  of  "traitors."  It 
evidently  meant  that  none  but  the  Jacobin  clubs  should  be  consulted 
in  the  departments. 

Danton,  repulsed  by  the  Girondists,  and  goaded  on  by  the  Jaco- 
bins, wavered  and  hesitated.  One  of  his  friends  had  read  him  the 
petition,  in  the  name  of  the  sections ;  another,  the  next  day,  said 
that  the  deputies,  if  they  were  wise,  would  ostracize  themselves, 
after  the  fashion  of  the  ancients,  but  at  the  same  time  he  proposed 
to  censure  the  petition. 

Danton  wished  to  remove  the  Girondist  leaders  in  order  to  save 


414  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

their  heads  and  avert  a  bloody  catastrophe  ;  but  it  was  alike  impos- 
sible to  induce  them  voluntarily  to  quit  their  post  and  to  persuade 
the  Convention  to  compel  them  to  do  so. 

April  18  a  counter-petition  arrived  from  the  department  of  the 
Gironde,  giving  information  of  a  conspiracy  to  assassinate  a  portion 
of  the  national  representatives.  The  citizens  of  the  Gironde  de- 
clared themselves  ready  to  hasten  to  the  assistance  of  the  Assembly. 

Civil  war  was  in  the  air. 

On  the  20th  discussion  was  resumed  upon  the  petition  and  the 
convocation  of  primary  assemblies.  Vergniaud  summed  up  the 
debate  in  an  admirable  speech.  "The  passions  which  divide  us," 
said  he,  "  have  overflowed  their  barriers  and  inundated  all  France. 
The  conflagration  is  ready  to  break  out.  The  day  of  the  convoca- 
tion of  the  primary  assemblies  will,  perhaps,  be  that  of  an  explosion 
whose  consequences  defy  all  calculation.  That  day  may  destroy  the 
Convention,  the  Eepublic,  and  liberty !  If  it  is  necessary  either  to 
decree  this  convocation,  or  to  deliver  ourselves  up  to  the  vengeance 
of  our  enemies,  —  if  you  are  reduced  to  this  alternative,  citizens,  do 
not  hesitate  between  a  few  men  and  the  public  welfare.  Fling  us 
into  the  gulf,  and  save  the  country." 

An  appeal  to  the  people  would  have  given  the  Girondists  the 
majority,  but  would  have  let  loose  civil  war  throughout  France. 
All  the  Girondists  understood  this,  and  they  all  associated  them- 
selves with  the  sacrifice  of  Vergniaud,  for  which  they  will  forever 
share  the  glory  of  this  illustrious  man.  Never  was  there  a  nobler 
deed  in  the  ancient  republics  of  Greece  and  Rome,  which  are  con- 
stantly quoted  to  us  as  examples. 

The  National  Convention  censured  as  slanderous  the  petition 
which  had  been  presented  in  the  name  of  the  thirty-five  sections  of 
Paris  and  of  the  general  council  of  the  commune.  The  appeal  to 
the  primary  assemblies  was  not  sustained. 

April  24  Marat's  trial  before  the  revolutionary  tribunal  began. 
The  composition  of  this  tribunal  presaged  the  issue  of  the  trial; 
the  judges,  the  public  prosecutor,  and  the  jurors  were  named  by  the 
Convention.  The  Girondists  might  have  prevented  these  important 


1793.]  MARAT'S  TRIAL.  415 

places  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies.  They  made 
some  effort  to  do  so,  but  with  too  little  energy  and  judgment.  The 
first  appointments  were  contested ;  the  Jacobins  succeeded  in  pro- 
curing their  defeat.  Robespierre  managed  to  place  his  friends  in 
posts  that  were  more  dreaded  than  desired.  The  greater  part  of  the 
judges  and  jurors  were  men  fanatically  devoted  to  the  Revolution ; 
among  the  jurors  was  the  joiner  Duplay,  the  head  of  an  honest 
and  industrious  family,  which  surrounded  Robespierre  with  an  en- 
thusiastic and  disinterested  affection,  and  where  the  apostle  of 
the  Jacobins  lived  on  the  footing  of  the  eldest  son  of  the  house. 
It  is  terrible  to  reflect  how,  through  association  with  thoroughly 
depraved  men,  honest  people  and  good  patriots,  possessed  of  little 
intelligence,  become  by  degrees  the  machinery,  so  to  speak,  of  an 
engine  of  destruction  that  blindly  crushes  both  the  innocent  and 
the  guilty ! 

The  tribunal  began  by  attempting  to  be  just  in  its  rigor ;  if  it 
condemned  men  of  the  people  or  even  a  servant-girl  for  merely 
speaking  against  the  Revolution,  it  acquitted  three  generals  out  of 
five  who  were  accused  of  complicity  with  Dumouriez,  and  the  two 
condemned  were  really  guilty.  One  of  the  three  acquitted  was  an 
intimate  friend  of  the  Girondist  leaders. 

The  public  prosecutor,  Fouquier-Tinville,  was  not  a  fanatical 
Jacobin,  but  a  needy,  petty  provincial  magistrate,  violent  in  tem- 
perament but  timorous  at  heart.  He  had  solicited  a  place  through 
the  influence  of  his  cousin,  Camille  Desmoulins,  whose  execution 
he  afterwards  demanded.  Fear  made  him  what  rage  made  others, 
a  pitiless  destroyer ;  he  always  attacked  others  through  fear  of  being 
attacked  himself. 

Marat  was  accused  of  having  attempted  to  incite,  1.  "pillage 
and  murder;  2.  the  establishment  of  a  dictatorship;  3.  the  deg- 
radation and  dissolution  of  the  National  Assembly."  The  jurors 
declared  that  the  charges  were  not  sustained. 

The  mob  took  possession  of  the  accused,  crowned  him  with  lau- 
rels, and  bore  him,  perched  upon  an  arm-chair,  from  the  Palace  of 
Justice  to  the  Convention.  These  were  not  the  vagabonds  who 


416  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

formed  Marat's  habitual  escort.  The  poor  people,  the  real  populace, 
flocked  around  him ;  Marat  had  won  their  hearts  by  his  perpetual 
complaints  of  their  sufferings,  which  were  but  too  real  and  profound 
at  this  epoch  of  the  destruction  of  commerce  and  manufactures. 
This  was  the  most  sincere  and  the  only  unselfish  feeling  that  this 
strange  man  blended  with  his  perpetual  rodomontades  and  his 
monstrous  vanity.  He  believed  himself,  and  made  others  believe 
him,  "the  friend  of  the  people," — that  people  which  he  cajoled  and 
perverted. 

The  mob  defiled  before  the  Convention,  and  bore -Marat  to  the 
tribune  to  proclaim  his  justification  and  parade  his  triumph.  For 
a  moment  moved  by  the  popular  sympathy,  he  soon  became  as 
ferocious  as  ever.  "I  have  them  now,"  he  said,  pointing  to  the 
Girondists ;  "  I  have  the  rope  around  their  necks  ! " 

Marat's  trial  had  been  a  mistake  which  was  destined  to  result 
in  the  most  serious  consequences.  This  madman,  hooted  at  by  all, 
and  almost  as  ridiculous  as  odious  upon  his  first  appearance  at  the 
Convention,  had  now  become  a  formidable  power. 

The  ferment  was  great  in  Paris,  and  favored  the  most  violent.  It 
arose  from  two  principal  causes,  the  war  in  La  Vende'e  and  a  scarcity 
of  food.  The  people  fancied  that  they  saw  everywhere  monopolists 
or  accomplices  of  the  Vende'an  rebellion.  Bread  was  dear:  the 
people  with  loud  clamors  demanded  its  price  should  be  fixed  by 
law.  The  commune  had  requested  the  Convention  to  establish  a 
maximum  price  of  grain,  and  had  declared  itself  in  a  state  of 
revolution  until  means  of  subsistence  should  be  assured  (April  18). 

This  menace  was  not  followed  by  another  insurrection,  but  there 
was  a  great  outside  pressure  upon  the  Assembly.  The  Girondists 
opposed  the  maximum  with  the  greatest  energy  and  the  strongest 
arguments ;  they  demonstrated  that  the  fixing  of  a  price  on  grain 
and  other  provisions,  often  practised  under  the  old  regime,  was  con- 
demned by  economical  science,  and  instead  of  remedying  the  evil 
had  always  increased  it ;  that  the  merchants  would  be  ruined  and 
forced  to  close  their  shops,  if  obliged  to  sell  supplies  below  their 
value  and  in  exchange  for  assignats  which  had  begun  to  depreciate 


1793.]  PARTY  DISSENSIONS.  417 

since  they  had  become  so  numerous;  and  that  producers  would 
conceal  and  hoard  up  their  produce. 

Cambon,  the  great  financial  authority  of  the  Convention,  declared 
himself  for  the  maximum.  He  well  knew  the  truth  of  all  the 
Girondists  said,  that  the  maximum  would  be  a  new  and  terrible 
blow  to  commerce  among  individuals;  that  the  populace  would 
continually  increase  in  violence  as  soon  as  this  path  was  entered 
upon ;  but  he  believed  that  France  could  not  do  otherwise  without 
perishing,  and  that  the  state  must  procure  at  the  maximum  price 
whatever  was  necessary  for  the  subsistence  of  its  armies,  and  pay 
for  it  in  assignats,  which  must  continue  to  depreciate,  since  another 
billion  had  been  issued  on  the  7th  of  May. 

May  3  the  Convention  voted  a  maximum  price  for  grain,  which 
was  to  vary  according  to  the  departments.  The  resistance  of  the 
Girondists  had  greatly  incensed  the  masses  against  them.  Another 
event  was  also  very  prejudicial  to  them,  —  the  publication  of  a  pam- 
phlet by  Camille  Desmoulins,  entitled  "  The  History  of  the  Bris- 
sotins."  Camille  had  written  a  first  pamphlet  the  year  before 
against  Brissot,  entitled  "Brissot  Unveiled."  Now  he  attacked 
all  the  Girondists  under  the  name  of  "  Brissotins,"  and  embel- 
lished and  fortified  with  his  brilliant,  trenchant  style,  all  the  un- 
just accusations  of  Robespierre  against  the  Gironde,  —  federalism, 
royalism,  Orleansism,  etc.  He  was  doomed  to  a  late  and  una- 
vailing repentance ! 

Cambon,  who  stood  aloof  from  these  fatal  party  quarrels,  and  who 
thought  only  of  the  Republic  and  of  France,  had  read  to  the  Con- 
vention, April  27,  a  proposition  from  the  patriots  of  L'Herault,  his 
department,  to  insure  recruiting  and  the  money  required  for  the 
armies.  A  committee  of  public  safety,  composed  of  members  of 
the  administrative  corps  of  the  chief  town,  was  to  designate  for 
the  ranks  the  most  patriotic,  robust,  and  valiant  citizens.  The 
money  was  to  be  raised  by  a  forced  loan  from  wealthy  individuals 
designated  by  the  same  committee  and  by  delegates  from  the  Con- 
vention. L'Herault  would  furnish  five  thousand  men  and  fiye  mil- 
lion francs.  In  brief,  the  patriots  were  to  fight,  the  rich  were  to  pay. 
27 


418  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

The  Assembly  received  L'He'rault's  proposition  with  acclamations, 
and  sent  it  to  all  the  departments. 

"  Citizens,"  said  Danton,  "  we  calumniate  the  populace  by  pre- 
tending that  it  desires  the  division  of  property.  By  imposing  this 
tax  upon  the  rich  we  do  them  a  service ;  the  more  they  sacrifice  for 
present  use,  the  stronger  will  be  the  guaranty  of  the  basis  of  property." 

The  forced  loan  proposed  by  L'Herault  was  to  serve  for  the  sub- 
sistence of  the  armies  and  for  the  relief  of  the  poor.  Marseilles, 
Bordeaux,  Nantes,  and  other  cities  had  taken  measures  among  them- 
selves similar  to  those  initiated  by  L'Herault. 

From  the  patriotic  levy  of  L'Herault  arose  the  32d  Demi-Brigade, 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  regiments  of  the  great  French  wars.  In 
a  military  point  of  view  injustice  has  often  been  done  the  South 
of  France ;  less  warlike  in  ordinary  times  than  the  North,  it  fur- 
nished numerous  volunteers  to  the  Eevolution. 

To  carry  out  in  every  department  the  plan  initiated  by  L'Herault 
and  Montpelier,  vigorous  measures  were  needed ;  for  the  loan  was 
unpopular,  and  in  some  places  likely  to  arouse  violent  opposition. 
The  Girondists,  wholly  engrossed  with  the  defence  of  individual 
liberty,  resisted  the  forced  loan  as  well  as  the  maximum.  When  it 
was  proposed  to  decree  a  forced  currency  of  assignats  on  a  par  with 
silver,  Ducos  remarked :  "  We  must  wait  until  things  find  their  level 
again."  When  it  was  proposed  to  compel  citizens  to  leave  their  homes 
to  defend  the  country,  "  We  must  wait  for  voluntary  enlistments," 
said  Brissot,  "  the  only  mode  of  recruiting  worthy  of  free  men." 

The  Mountain  thought  that  to  wait  was  to  sacrifice  the  coun- 
try. It  pressed  forward  vehemently,  its  sole  aim  being  to  put 
down  the  Vendean  revolt  at  any  price,  and  to  repel  foreign  in- 
vasion. 

May  1  and  3  the  commune  voted  the  formation  in  Paris  of  a 
corps  of  twelve  thousand  men  to  march  into  Vendee,  and  the  raising 
of  a  forced  loan  of  twelve  millions.  Several  members  of  the  depart- 
ment and  of  the  general  council  of  the  commune  set  out  at  the  head 
of  the  first  detachments,  and  with  them,  Santerre,  commandant  of 
the  national  guard.  He  left  few  kindly  memories ;  still  there  was 


1793.]  PARTY  DISSENSIONS.  419 

reason  to  regret  him,  for  he  was  soon  followed  by  others  far  worse 
than  he. 

The  commune  had  decreed  that  the  naming  of  the  men  who  were 
to  join  the  army,  and  of  the  sums  to  be  levied  in  exchange  for 
drafts  payable  on  the  estates  of  the  emigrants,  should  be  intrusted 
to  the  revolutionary  committee  of  each  section,  assisted  by  a  mem- 
ber of  the  commune.  These  committees,  inclined  to  violence  and 
arbitrary  proceedings,  provoked  lively  opposition. 

Unhappily,  feelings  far  from  patriotic  were  mingled  with  this 
reaction  against  tyranny.  The  flower  of  the  young  bourgeoisie  and 
of  the  working  classes  was  in  the  army;  those  who  remained  at 
home,  the  sons  of  well-to-do  families,  students,  and  clerks,  were 
unwilling  to  leave  Paris.  We  learn  from  the  Revolutions  de  Paris, 
that,  in  spite  of  the  poverty  of  its  masses  and  its  political  tempests, 
the  great  city  was  still  an  abode  of  pleasure,  with  its  overflowing 
theatres  and  its  richly  dressed  women.  These  frivolous  youth  com- 
promised the  Gironde  by  styling  themselves  Girondists,  thus  raising 
the  commune  in  public  favor,  and  bringing  reproach  upon  the  Eight 
of  the  Convention. 

The  revolutionary  committees,  brutal  but  energetic,  obtained  as- 
cendency again  in  the  sections.  The  same  thing  happened  in  the 
departments.  The  counter-revolutionists  began  to  shelter  them- 
selves under  the  name  of  Girondists.  Many  local  governments,  led 
by  a  spirit  of  moderation  and  equity  and  a  hatred  of  "  Maratism," 
opposed  the  extraordinary  measures  induced  by  the  public  dangers. 
They  passively  resisted  even  the  proceedings  approved  by  the  Eight, 
and  did  not  send  to  Paris  the  lists  of  emigrant  estates  demanded  by 
Eoland  and  his  successor  in  the  ministry  of  the  interior. 

The  Girondists  of  the  departments  grew  weaker.  The  ruin  of 
commerce  and  the  increasing  penury  had  chilled  those  of  the  bour- 
geoisie who  had  not  enlisted  in  the  army,  become  purchasers  of  the 
national  estates,  or  embarked  heart  and  soul  in  the  Eevolution. 

Bad  news  arrived  from  the  army.  One  after  another  followed 
tidings  of  those  Yendean  successes  of  which  we  have  already  spoken. 
After  the  flight  of  Dumouriez  the  Austrians  had  invaded  the  French 


420  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

territory;  reinforced  by  the  Prussians,  English,  and  Dutch,  they 
were  blockading  Conde.  The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  ordered 
Dampierre,  the  new  general  of  the  army  of  the  North,  to  resume 
the  offensive  and  relieve  Conde.  Dampierre  had  only  thirty  thou- 
sand men  against  sixty  thousand.  He  obeyed,  made  the  attack,  and 
was  killed  (May  8). 

The  French  army  was  forced  to  beat  a  retreat.  The  little  town 
of  Conde*  was  lost,  and  the  far  more  important  place,  Valenciennes, 
was  menaced.  The  effect  of  these  misfortunes  in  Paris  was  terrible. 
The  internal  quarrels  of  the  Convention  were  imbittered  instead 
of  silenced  in  the  presence  of  the  common  danger.  The  Mountain 
rushed  into  furious  exaggerations;  and  the  Girondists  expended 
all  their  energy  in  wrath  and  recriminations  against  the  Mountain, 
too  often  forgetting  the  perils  abroad  for  those  at  home,  which 
strengthened  the  suspicions  and  grievances  of  their  adversaries. 

The  Mountaineers  were  highly  incensed  at  the  decisions  obtained 
by  the  Girondists  from  the  Convention  concerning  affairs  at  Lyons 
and  Marseilles.  In  these  two  cities  the  Jacobins  and  the  moderates 
were  at  deadly  strife.  The  Convention  upheld  its  own  delegates, 
who  were  Mountaineers,  against  the  Girondist  municipality  of  Mar- 
seilles. At  Lyons,  on  the  contrary,  the  municipality,  which  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  most  ardent  Jacobins,  having  created  a  revolution- 
ary tribunal  and  begun  the  arrest  of  suspected  persons,  the  Con- 
vention authorized  the  resistance  of  the  citizens  whom  this  tribunal 
sought  to  seize  (May  12-15). 

There  were  in  fact  exceedingly  active  royalist  and  counter-revo- 
lutionary intrigues  in  Lyons.  All  these  causes  drew  together  the 
diverse  factions  of  the  extreme  party  in  Paris,  the  Jacobins,  the 
commune,  and  the  EVeche*  committee.  This  insurrectional  commit- 
tee, composed  of  the  most  rabid  of  the  rabid,  had  strengthened  itself 
greatly  by  becoming  the  centre  of  the  sectional  revolutionary  com- 
mittees, which  took  the  lead  in  the  requisition  and  the  forced  loan. 

The  Convention  was  constantly  disturbed  by  clamors  and  quarrels 
from  the  tribunes,  which  were  taken  possession  of  by  bands  of 
women  in  the  pay  of  the  agitators.  The  revolutionary  committees 


1793.]  PARTY  DISSENSIONS.  421 

made  arbitrary  arrests.  The  Convention  was  obliged  to  interpose, 
and  to  order  the  liberation  of  a  justice  of  the  peace  who  had  been 
arrested  at  night,  contrary  to  law. 

May  18  Guadet  presented  propositions  of  great  importance  to  the 
Assembly,  namely,  to  annul  the  Paris  authorities,  and  replace  the 
municipality  by  presidents  from  the  sections,  and  to  assemble  at 
Bourges  the  substitutes  who  had  been  elected  at  the  same  time 
with  the  members  of  the  Convention,  in  order  to  form  a  new 
Assembly  if  the  Convention  was  dissolved  by  the  riot. 

Barere,  while  severely  reprehending  the  Parisian  authorities,  op- 
posed Guadet's  motion,  and  proposed  to  appoint  a  commission  of 
twelve  members,  who  should  be  instructed  to  examine  into  the  con- 
duct of  the  commune,  and  to  take  measures  for  securing  public 
tranquillity. 

Guadet  had  proposed  to  act  boldly ;  Barere  suggested  temporizing 
measures,  and  prevailed.  The  Committee  of  Twelve  was  formed.  It 
was  composed  of  Girondists,  but  not  of  the  leaders,  —  not  of  those 
of  high  renown  and  great  authority.  This  measure,  indecisive  as  it 
was,  excited  the  rage  of  the  extreme  party.  At  a  meeting  of  del- 
egates from  the  revolutionary  committees,  a  public  administrator 
proposed  to  arrest  the  twenty-two  members  of  the  Convention  des- 
ignated by  the  petition  of  April  15,  and  a  few  others,  and  to  "  Sep- 
temberize  "  them.  He  was  sustained  by  many,  and  some  present 
who  protested  were  expelled. 

The  meeting  was  adjourned  to  the  next  day,  the  20th.  Here  the 
opponents  of  the  "  Septemberizers "  won  new  courage,  and  Mayor 
Pache,  who  presided  over  the  delegates  convoked  at  the  mayoralty, 
declared  that  these  reunions  were  solely  designed  to  prepare  lists 
of  suspected  individuals ;  and  that  he  would  not  permit  projects 
against  the  Convention  to  be  discussed  at  the  mayoralty. 

These  projects  continued  to  be  discussed  elsewhere;  the  most 
insane  resolutions  were  debated  on  the  22d  and  23d  at  the  Cor- 
deliers Club,  which  had  allowed  itself  to  be  befooled  by  the  £veche 
committee,  and  had  run  mad,  so  to  speak.  A  woman  named  Eose 
Lacombe  surpassed  all  the  men  in  her  wild  and  fanatical  eloquence. 


422  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

The  commune  repudiated  the  projects  of  these  disturbers  of  the 
peace,  and  promised  to  prosecute  them.  Meantime  the  Convention, 
upon  Cambon's  motion,  regulated  and  expanded  the  work  in  which 
L'Herault  had  takeii  the  initiative,  and  voted  a  forced  loan  of  a 
billion  from  the  rich,  to  be  reimbursed  from  the  estates  of  the  emi- 
grants. Several  of  the  Girondists  had  recognized  the  necessity  of 
this  measure,  but  others,  among  whom  were  Barbaroux  and  Buzot, 
opposed  it. 

May  24  the  Commission  of  Twelve  presented  a  report  to  the 
Convention  upon  the  state  of  affairs  at  Paris.  The  report  was 
highly  alarming,  and  its  recommendations  were  wholly  inadequate. 
To  order  the  sections  to  close  their  sessions  at  ten  o'clock  at  night, 
and  to  reinforce  the  post  held  by  the  Convention,  which  had  been 
transferred  since  May  from  the  Feuillants  to  the  Tuileries,  were  not 
effectual  precautions,  inasmuch  as  they  left  to  the  commune  the 
disposal  of  the  armed  force.  The  same  day,  however,  the  Twelve 
attempted  a  vigorous  stroke,  which  they  ought  to  have  been  pre- 
pared to  support.  They  arrested  the  two  principal  authors  of  the 
proposals  for  massacre  addressed  to  the  central  revolutionary  com- 
mittee and  to  the  Cordeliers,  and  with  them  Hebert,  the  proxy  of 
the  procureur  of  the  commune,  for  an  article  in  his  contemptible 
journal,  Le  Pere  DucMne,  advocating  the  execution  of  the  Girondists. 

This  caused  great  agitation.  The  commune  despatched  to  the 
Assembly  a  deputation  to  demand  vengeance  against  the  "  calum- 
niators of  Paris,"  that  is  to  say,  against  the  sections  which  had 
denounced  the  projects  of  the  Septembriseurs.  The  deputation  in 
its  turn  denounced  "  the  outrage  committed  by  the  Commission  of 
Twelve  upon  Hebert,"  and  demanded  that  the  Convention  should 
restore  to  his  office  "this  magistrate,  estimable  for  his  civic  vir- 
tues and  his  intelligence." 

On  hearing  such  words  applied  to  such  a  man,  the  great  majority 
of  the  Convention  fumed  with  rage.  If  Vergniaud  had  presided 
that  day,  he  would  have  replied  in  the  name  of  the  Assembly,  with 
his  characteristic  dignity  and  grandeur.  Unhappily,  it  was  not  the 
imposing  Vergniaud,  but  the  fiery  Isnard,  who  had  the  chair.  He 


1793.]  PAETY  DISSENSIONS.  423 

flew  into  a  rage.  "  You  shall  have  speedy  justice ! "  he  cried ;  "  but 
mark  what  I  say,  France  has  made  Paris  the  headquarters  of  the 
national  representation,  and  Paris  must  respect  it !  If  an  attack  is 
ever  made  on  the  national  representation  through  one  of  those  in- 
surrections which  have  been  so  common  ever  since  the  10th  of 
March,  and  of  which  the  constituted  authorities  of  Paris  have  never 
warned  the  Convention,  I  declare  to  you,  in  the  name  of  all  France, 
that  Paris  will  be  blotted  out,  and  it  will  soon  be  questioned  on 
the  banks  of  the  Seine  whether  such  a  city  has  ever  existed ! " 

The  majority,  carried  away  by  the  impetuous  eloquence  of  Isnard, 
applauded  this  daring  bravado ;  the  Mountain  protested  with  cries 
of  rage.  Danton  interposed,  and  sought  to  calm  the  minds  of  the 
Assembly.  He  protested  that  Paris,  the  great  majority  of  Paris,  had 
never  ceased  to  deserve  well  of  the  Eepublic.  "  The  small  number 
of  conspirators  it  contains  will  be  punished,"  he  said.  "  Paris  will 
always  be  worthy  to  be  the  headquarters  of  the  national  represen- 
tation. The  departments  must  be  united ;  we  must  guard  against 
exasperating  them  against  Paris." 

The  whole  Assembly  applauded  this  patriotic  speech;  but  the 
evil  was  done!  The  fatal  words  of  Isnard  were  already  current 
all  over  Paris,  commented  upon,  envenomed  by  the  enemies  of  the 
Gironde.  The  effect  was  frightful  The  rabble  saw  in  this  un- 
meaning rodomontade  a  great  conspiracy  against  Paris.  This  in- 
creased tenfold  the  ranks  of  the  factionists,  and  began  to  turn 
toward  them  the  Parisian  masses,  which  until  then  had  been  op- 
posed to  violence. 

The  ultra  party  grew  bold.  The  city  revolutionary  committee 
caused  the  arrest  of  citizens  who  had  spoken  ill  of  Eobespierre  and 
Marat.  The  Commission  of  Twelve  liberated  the  men  who  had 
been  arrested,  and  imprisoned  the  president  of  the  city  section,  who 
was  a  judge  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal,  for  having  refused  to 
make  public  the  registers  of  his  section.  The  Convention  sup- 
pressed the  committee  of  this  section,  forbade  committees  to  call 
themselves  "  revolutionary,"  and  ordered  them  to  confine  themselves 
to  the  powers  conferred  by  law,  to  keep  a  watch  over  strangers,  but 


424  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

not  to  arrest  citizens.  The  Convention  also  charged  the  minister 
of  the  interior  to  see  that  the  committees  respected  his  injunctions. 
This  minister  was  Garat,  a  man  wise  in  thought  but  not  in  action. 

Had  the  committees  obeyed,  the  revolutionary  organization  of 
Paris  would  have  been  broken.  They  resisted,  and  excited  an  up- 
rising of  women  who  marched  through  the  city  with  drums  and 
pikes.  Having  at  their  disposal  the  police  administrators  and  the 
armed  force,  they  treated  their  adversaries  as  guilty  of  sedition.  The 
central  revolutionary  committee  of  the  l£veeh^  elected  as  its  pres- 
ident Maillard,  the  judge  and  executioner  of  September  2.  This 
was  significant. 

A  report  was  spread  that  the  Twelve  wished  to  change  the  judges 
and  jurors  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal,  and  to  "purge  the  Conven- 
tion" by  demanding  the  indictment  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
Mountain. 

On  the  evening  of  May  26  Kobespierre  delivered  a  speech  at  the 
Jacobin  Club,  whose  incoherent  violence  was  wholly  contrary  to 
his  custom.  "  When  the  people  are  oppressed,"  cried  he,  "  when  des- 
potism is  at  its  height,  he  would  be  a  coward  who  did  not  bid  the 
people  rise.  This  moment  has  come.  I  call  upon  the  people  to  rise 
in  revolt  in  the  National  Convention  against  all  the  corrupt  dep- 
uties." 

All  present  rose,  and  declared  themselves  in  revolt  against  the 
deputies  in  question. 

Eobespierre's  words  had  outstripped  his  thoughts;  he  did  not 
wish  to  re-enact  a  10th  of  August  with  its  cannon,  but  to  excite 
what  he  called  a  "moral  insurrection,"  a  pressure  of  the  masses 
upon  the  Convention,  in  order  to  force  it  to  expel  the  Girondist 
leaders.  The  ringleaders  of  the  £vech^  were  not  content  with  this 
proceeding ;  they  made  preparations  for  a  "  material  insurrection " 
on  the  morrow. 

On  the  morning  of  the  27th  bands  from  the  Montmartre  Fau- 
bourg and  the  Gravilliers  and  other  sections  rushed  to  the  Conven- 
tion, and  were  beginning  to  fill  up  the  courts  and  corridors  of  the 
Tuileries,  when  they  espied  behind  them  a  thousand  national  guards 


1793.]        MAY  THIRTY-FIRST  AND  JUNE  SECOND.  425 

upon  the  Carrousel.  The  Twelve  had  summoned  these  Girondist 
companies  without  having  recourse  to  the  suspected  mediation  of 
the  municipal  authority.  By  the  order  of  the  president  of  the 
Convention  the  guards  moved  forward,  and  cleared  the  approaches 
to  the  Assembly,  without  finding  it  necessary  to  resort  to  force. 
Meanwhile,  however,  most  tumultuous  scenes  took  place  within 
the  Convention.  A  deputation  from  the  Cite"  section  appeared,  and 
demanded,  with  insolent  menaces,  that  its  president  should  be  set  at 
liberty,  and  the  members  of  the  Commission  of  Twelve  sent  to  the 
revolutionary  tribunal.  President  Isnard  replied  with  firmness  and 
scorn.  Robespierre  asked  a  hearing;  the  president  refused,  as  it 
would  interrupt  the  regular  order  of  proceedings.  The  Mountain 
raised  a  cry  of  tyranny.  Danton  this  time  sustained  Robespierre, 
vehemently  censuring  the  Commission  of  Twelve  and  the  arrests  it 
had  ordered. 

Upon  this,  Garat,  the  minister  of  the  interior,  intervened,  and,  so 
to  speak,  threw  lukewarm  water  upon  all  this  fire.  Confirming  the 
assertions  of  a  letter  sent  by  Mayor  Pache,  he  denied  the  existence 
of  a  great  conspiracy  against  the  Assembly,  and  pretended  that  the 
delegates  of  the  revolutionary  committees  had  disapproved,  en  masse, 
of  the  atrocious  proposals  which  had  been  made  them.  He  finally 
declared  that  certain  members  of  the  Twelve  let  their  imaginations 
run  away  with  them,  and  that  the  Convention  incurred  no  risk. 
"  In  making  you  this  assertion,"  said  he,  "  I  invoke  upon  myself  all 
the  horrors  of  any  attempt  that  may  be  made,  and  call  down  the 
whole  responsibility  thereof  upon  my  own  head." 

The  conciliatory  Garat  was  the  dupe ;  the  cold,  astute  Pache  was 
the  accomplice.  The  Centre  asked  only  to  be  reassured.  Garat's 
assertions  dissuaded  the  majority  from  any  further  action. 

It  was  late.  The  Right  wished  to  end  the  session,  the  Left  op- 
posed it  Isnard,  exhausted,  yielded  the  presidency  to  the  Giron- 
dist Fonfrede,  a  member  of  the  Commission  of  Twelve.  The 
Mountain  and  the  tribunes  vociferated  against  Fonfrede.  Unable  to 
make  himself  heard,  he  left  the  chair,  which  was  taken  by  the 
Mountaineer  Herault  de  Sechelles.  A  great  portion  of  the  Assem- 


426  THE  FEENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

bly  had  left;  the  Mountain  had  remained.  Deputations  in  the 
name  of  the  twenty-eight  sections  demanded  anew  the  liberation 
of  the  arrested  citizens  and  the  abolition  of  the  Commission  of 
Twelve.  In  the  midst  of  extreme  confusion,  the  petitioners  having 
invaded  the  empty  benches  of  the  Assembly,  the  Mountain,  upon 
motion  of  Danton's  friend,  Lacroix,  voted  the  two  propositions. 

The  next  day  the  Assembly  reconsidered  this  decision.  The 
energetic  Breton,  Lanjuinais,  demanded  and  obtained  the  repeal  of 
the  decree,  in  spite  of  the  furious  clamors  of  the  Mountain  and  the 
tribunes ;  but  the  majority  was  not  large,  —  only  two  hundred  and 
seventy-nine  votes  against  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine.  The  Cen- 
tre was  divided.  Condorcet  and  some  other  members  of  the  Eight 
had  even  voted  for  the  maintenance  of  the  decree,  not  deeming  it 
possible  to  sustain  the  Commission  of  Twelve.  The  Mountain  pro- 
tested; Danton  used  the  most  menacing  language,  and  violently 
attacked  the  Twelve,  who,  he  said,  wished  to  extend  their  tyrannical 
power  even  over  members  of  the  Convention.  He  appeared  to 
believe  himself  personally  threatened  by  them. 

The  Gironde  made  one  concession :  Fonfrede,  one  of  the  Twelve, 
procured  the  passage  of  a  vote  temporarily  releasing  Hebert  and  the 
other  arrested  persons. 

The  Commission  of  Twelve  still  existed,  but  it  was  much  weak- 
ened, like  the  Convention  itself.  The  ]£vech£  committee  labored 
to  repeat  the  attempt  which  had  failed  on  the  27th  of  May,  and 
to  send  delegates  from  the  sections  with  unlimited  powers.  The 
sections,  even  the  most  violent,  were  not  prepared  for  this ;  they 
inclined,  rather,  toward  the  "  moral  insurrection  "  of  Eobespierre  and 
the  Jacobins.  Even  in  the  most  revolutionary  districts  of  Paris 
there  was  a  profound  repugnance  to  everything  tending  toward  a 
repetition  of  the  2d  of  September.  The  departmental  authorities, 
influenced  by  Robespierre,  invited  the  sections  to  send  commis- 
sioners to  the  hall  of  the  Jacobins,  on  the  31st  of  May,  at  nine  in 
the  morning,  to  consult  with  the  constitutional  authorities  upon  the 
public  safety. 

The  fiveche  committee  hastened  to  take  action  in  order  to  fore- 


1793.]        MAY  THIRTY-FIRST  AND  JUNE  SECOND.  427 

stall  the  Jacobins.  On  the  evening  of  May  30,  in  conjunction  with 
delegates  chosen  by  a  handful  of  men  in  the  sections,  by  clubs  out- 
side the  sections,  or  simply  by  themselves,  they  declared  Paris  "  in 
revolt  for  the  arrest  of  traitors."  Marat  was  present;  he  again 
found  himself  in  his  true  place :  Hubert  was  also  there,  and  gave  his 
approval 

At  the  commune  the  crafty  and  timid  mayor,  Pache,  and  the 
procureur-syndic,  Chaumette,  less  depraved  than  his  proxy  and 
friend,  Hebert,  were  seized  with  dismay  at  what  was  passing  at  the 
l£ve'che',  where  they  were  "taking  rather  energetic  measures,"  said 
Pache.  They  would  have  preferred  waiting  to  see  what  the  Jaco- 
bins would  do.  Pache,  who  had  repaired  to  the  ^veche",  with  some 
delegates  from  the  general  council  of  the  commune,  soon  returned, 
and  announced  to  the  council  that  the  £vech^  assembly  had  de- 
clared itself  in  insurrection,  and  had  resolved  to  close  the  barriers, 
beat  the  rappel,  and  sound  the  tocsin.  He  had  tried  in  vain,  he 
said,  to  persuade  the  citizens  assembled  at  the  £vech^  to  suspend 
the  execution  of  these  measures.  The  general  council  of  the  com- 
mune resumed  its  regular  proceedings  while  awaiting,  as  it  said,  the 
will  of  the  sections.  No  action  was  taken  either  by  the  Committee 
of  Public  Welfare  or  the  Commission  of  Twelve.  At  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning  the  tocsin  sounded  from  the  tower  of  Notre  Dame ; 
toward  six,  delegates  from  the  ]£veche'  committee  appeared  before 
the  general  council  of  the  commune,  announcing  that  the  people 
of  Paris  had  annulled  the  powers  of  all  the  constituted  author- 
ities. A  pretended  verification  of  the  powers  of  the  so-called 
sectional  delegates  was  made,  and  the  general  council  declared  that 
it  remitted  its  powers  to  the  sovereign  people.  This  submission 
made,  Dobsent,  the  president  of  the  sectional  delegates,  in  the  name 
of  the  sovereign  people,  reinstated  the  municipal  magistrates  and 
the  general  council  of  the  commune.  The  council  appointed  as 
provisional  commander  of  the  armed  force  Henriot,  a  subordinate 
agent  and  ready  tool  for  any  kind  of  violence. 

At  the  sound  of  the  tocsin  and  gtfnfrale  the  Convention  had 
assembled,  and  summoned  the  ministers  and  departmental  and  mu- 


428  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

nicipal  authorities.  The  optimist  Garat  had  been  forced  to  admit 
that  there  was  "  great  agitation  in  Paris."  The  mayor,  Pache,  re- 
lated what  had  taken  place  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  as  a  perfectly 
natural  and  legal  proceeding,  and  thought  it  incumbent  on  him  to 
reassure  the  Assembly  by  saying  that  he  had  forbidden  the  firing 
of  the  alarm-gun.  This  alarm-gun,  which  was  posted  upon  the 
Pont-!Neuf,  had  been  the  terror  of  Parisians  since  the  2d  of  Septem- 
ber. The  Convention  had  forbidden  its  being  fired  under  penalty 
of  death. 

Meanwhile  the  president  of  the  Convention  received  tidings  that 
Henriot  had  ordered  the  fatal  gun  to  be  fired,  and  that  the  guard 
upon  the  Pont-Neuf  had  refused.  A  daring  Girondist,  Valaze, 
demanded  that  Henriot  should  be  arrested  and  brought  before  the 
bar  of  the  Convention.  The  Pont-Xeuf  section  and  one  other  sent 
a  message  asking  orders  from  the  Convention. 

The  Mountaineers  began  to  clamor  for  the  repeal  of  the  Commis- 
sion of  Twelve,  and  while  time  was  being  lost  in  discussion,  the 
report  of  the  alarm-gun  was  heard.  The  guard  of  the  Pont-Xeuf 
had  finally  yielded  to  a  new  order  from  the  commune. 

Vergniaud  sprang  to  the  tribune.  "  They  are  making  ready  for 
a  conflict  in  Paris,"  cried  he ;  "  this  conflict,  whatever  may  be  its 
success,  will  be  the  ruin  of  the  Republic!  Whoever  desires  its 
beginning  will  be  the  accomplice  of  foreign  powers  and  of  the 
enemy.  To  prove  that  the  Convention  is  free,  let  us  adjourn  the 
debate  upon  the  dissolution  of  the  Twelve  until  to-morrow ;  let  us 
summon  the  commander  of  the  national  guard  before  our  bar,  and 
let  us  all  swear  to  die  at  our  posts."  Almost  the  entire  Assembly 
repeated  the  oath. 

On  hearing  of  what  was  going  on  in  Paris,  where  the  masses  were 
not  in  the  least  excited  by  the  gun,  as  on  the  10th  of  August,  and 
where  the  patrols  continued  their  rounds  without  tumult  or  dissen- 
sion, Vergniaud  went  on  to  declare  that  this  day  would  prove  how 
much  Paris  loved  liberty ;  and  he  prevailed  upon  the  Assembly  to 
decree  that  the  sections  of  Paris  had  deserved  well  of  the  country 
by  their  zeal  in  restoring  order,  and  that  the  Convention  invited 


1793.]       MAY  THIBTY-FIBST  AND  JUNE  SECOND.  429 

them  to  continue  their  surveillance.  It  was  a  tardy  and  desperate 
effort  to  efface  the  remembrance  of  Isnard's  fatal  speech. 

The  Assembly  then  voted  that  the  council  of  ministers  should 
inquire  who  had  violated  the  law  by  sounding  the  tocsin  and  firing 
the  alarm-gun.  The  Parisian  masses,  gathered  in  armed  battalions, 
were  not  really  in  insurrection,  but  the  ultra  party  made  up  for 
its  lack  of  numbers  by  its  noise  and  audacity;  the  deputations 
from  the  moderate  sections  had  given  place  to  an  arrogant  and 
menacing  deputation  from  the  pretended  central  committee  of  the 
forty-eight  sections,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  fiveche,  sent  to  denounce 
a  pretended  conspiracy  against  liberty  and  equality.  "The  peti- 
tioners," cried  Guadet,  "instead  of  announcing  that  they  had  dis- 
covered a  great  conspiracy,  should  have  said  that  they  wished  to 
carry  one  into  execution." 

At  this  moment  Vergniaud  was  summoned  to  the  petitioners' 
hall  A  veiled  woman  awaited  him  there ;  it  was  Madame  Boland. 
She  told  him  that  a  warrant  of  arrest,  in  the  name  of  the  revolu- 
tionary committee,  had  just  been  served  on  her  husband ;  that  Bo- 
land  had  refused  to  obey  the  illegal  ™n<fafa*,  m**\  tlmt  gbe  desired 
to  address  the  Convention.  "  If  I  do  not  save  Boland,"  she  said,  "  I 
shall  forcibly  set  forth  truths  salutary  to  the  Bepublic;  a  courageous 
outburst  may  have  some  effect,  and  at  least  will  serve  as  an  example 
to  others  I " 

Vergniaud  assured  her  that  she  could  not  make  herself  heard  in 
such  a  tumult.  She  returned  home  and  aided  her  husband  in  es- 
caping, but  remained  herself,  and  was  arrested  during  the  night 

Danton  had  intervened,  and  supported,  in  comparatively  moderate 
language,  those  who  demanded  the  abolition  of  the  Commission  of 
Twelve.  The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  to  which  Danton  and 
Cambon  belonged,  made  an  attempt  which  might  have  saved  every- 
thing: it  presented  the  draft  of  a  decree  which  at  the  same  time 
abolished  this  commission  and  placed  the  whole  armed  force  of 
Paris  at  the  direct  disposal  of  the  Convention. 

Through  an  obstinacy  which  verged  on  madness  a  portion  of  the 
Bight  opposed  this  decree.  The  debate  was  interrupted  by  the 


430  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

arrival  of  the  departmental  and  municipal  authorities,  and  new  com- 
missioners from  the  sections.  The  assembly  convoked  this  morning 
at  the  Jacobin  Club  had  appointed  a  commission  of  public  safety 
composed  of  eleven  members,  which  the  revolutionary  committees 
of  the  forty-eight  sections  were  to  obey.  This  assembly  had  ap- 
proved the  measures  taken  by  the  general  council  of  the  commune 
and  by  the  EVeche,  and  charged  the  Commission  of  Eleven  to  go  to 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  "  to  labor  for  the  public  safety  "  in  concert  with 
the  general  council  of  the  commune. 

From  the  moment  of  the  entrance  of  the  Eleven  into  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  all  proposals  for  an  armed  attack  upon  the  Convention 
to  arrest  "  corrupt  members  "  were  indignantly  repelled  by  the  com- 
mune, according  to  the  terms  of  the  minutes. 

This  signified  that,  the  repetition  of  September  2,  which  had  been 
plotted  at  the  Eveche",  having  failed,  the  direction  of  the  movement 
had  been  transferred  from  the  EVeche"  to  the  Jacobins ;  from  mur- 
derers to  the  advocates  of  "  moral  insurrection."  As  we  have  said, 
the  Parisian  authorities  and  the  Twelve  repaired  from  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  to  the  Convention. 

L'Huillier,  the  procureur-syndic  of  the  department,  a  partisan 
of  Robespierre,  was  the  speaker.  He  did  not  repeat  the  vague 
and  brutal  declamations  of  the  preceding  deputies ;  but  his  attack 
was  radical  and  marked  by  terrific  ability.  He  pretended  to  see  in 
Isnard's  insane  speech  concerning  Paris,  the  revelation  of  a  federalist 
plan  to  dismember  the  Republic,  one  and  indivisible,  and  to  return 
to  despotism  through  anarchy  by  destroying  Paris,  that  glorious 
centre  of  civilization  and  liberty,  "  which,"  said  he,  "  is  nothing  by 
itself,  if  not  the  sum  total  of  all  France." 

He  demanded  justice  for  Paris  against  Isnard  and  his  accom- 
plices, the  members  of  the  Commission  of  Twelve,  the  Girondists, 
the  Rolands,  "  and  all  the  abettors  of  royalty." 

This  eloquent,  perfidious,  and  carefully  calculated  address  was  too 
far  above  the  capacity  of  L'Huillier,  an  ex-shoemaker,  and  at  that 
time  a  magistrate,  not  to  have  been  dictated  by  Robespierre.  The 
mob  which  followed  the  deputation  led  by  L'Huillier  did  not  con- 


1793.]        MAY  THIRTY-FIRST  AND  JUNE  SECOND.  431 

tent  itself  with  defiling  through  the  Assembly;  it  invaded  the 
benches  of  the  Left  and  fraternized  with  the  Mountaineers. 

"The  National  Convention,"  said  Vergniaud,  "cannot  deliberate 
in  its  present  state !  It  is  not  free.  I  call  upon  it  to  leave  this 
hall  and  to  put  itself  under  the  protection  of  the  armed  force  upon 
the  Square."  Vergniaud  quitted  the  hall ;  his  friends  followed  him, 
but  the  Centre  did  not  stir.  Vergniaud  was  obliged  to  return  with 
despair  in  his  heart.  Had  the  Convention  followed  him,  he  would 
probably  have  been  successful  The  national  guard  would  have  wel- 
comed the  Convention.  But  the  Convention  surrendered  itself. 

Robespierre  believed  himself  already  master.  He  took  up  the 
plan  proposed  by  Barere,  accepting  only  the  abolition  of  the  Twelve 
and  the  restoration  of  the  control  of  the  army  to  the  Convention. 
"There  are  traitors  in  our  midst,"  said  he,  "who  have  too  often 
directed  our  deliberations.  It  would  be  an  absurdity  to  restore 
the  armed  force  to  their  hands.  We  must  not  alone  abolish  the 
Commission  of  Twelve;  we  must  vote  for  the  indictment  of  all 
the  accomplices  of  Dumouriez  and  of  all  those  who  have  been 
designated  by  the  petitioners." 

Barere's  plan  was  modified.  The  Commission  of  Twelve  was 
abolished,  and  the  armed  force  was  vaguely  decreed  to  be  in  a 
state  of  permanent  requisition.  Robespierre,  however,  did  not  ob- 
tain the  indictment  either  of  Vergniaud,  whom  he  had  designated 
by  name,  or  of  his  friends.  It  was  only  decreed  that  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Welfare  should  search  out  the  authors  of  the  con- 
spiracies denounced  by  the  several  deputations. 

The  Convention  ratified  a  decree  of  the  commune  promising  two 
francs  a  day  to  indigent  citizens  who  should  remain  under  arms 
until  the  restoration  of  public  tranquillity. 

It  was  nine  in  the  evening:  the  session  was  about  to  adjourn, 
when  the  Assembly  was  again  invaded  by  a  motley  throng  of  national 
guards  and  sans-culottcs  from  the  faubourgs,  with  joyous  instead  of 
menacing  countenances  and  outcries.  The  reason  was  as  follows. 

The  Maratists  of  the  fiveche,  furious  at  having  obtained  neither 
massacre  nor  civil  war,  had  scoured  the  Faubourg  Saint-Antoine, 


432  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

crying  that  the  counter-revolutionary  sections  of  the  environs  of 
the  Palais-Eoyal  had  raised  the  white  cockade.  The  faubourg,  at 
this  report,  rose  in  a  body.  The  Butte-des-Moulins  section,  in- 
formed that  it  was  about  to  be  attacked,  appealed  to  the  neighbor- 
ing sections  for  aid,  and  intrenched  itself  under  arms  within  the 
Palais-Eoyal.  The  guns  were  already  mounted  on  both  sides.  The 
people  of  the  faubourg,  however,  bethought  themselves  that  it  would 
be  well  to  have  an  explanation  before  fighting,  and  sent  deputies 
to  the  besieged,  who  found  the  tricolored  cockade  and  the  liberty- 
cap  everywhere  in  the  Palais-Eoyal,  as  among  themselves.  There- 
upon, instead  of  slaughtering  each  other,  they  embraced,  drank  to- 
gether, and  went  arm  in  arm  to  the  Convention,  to  participate  with 
it  in  this  fraternal  reconciliation. 

The  Convention  came  forth  in  a  body,  surrounded  and  cheered 
by  the  throng,  and  marched  by  the  light  of  torches  through  the  illu- 
minated city. 

This  gloomy  day  thus  ended  in  a  flash  of  joy,  a  momentary  gay- 
ety,  which  was  sincere  among  the  cordial,  unreflecting  masses,  but 
which  in  the  irrevocably  divided  Assembly  did  not  impose  a  single 
hour's  truce  upon  implacable  party  animosities.  The  Eevolution 
had  had  a  last  transport  of  fraternal  feeling  before  entering  upon 
the  phase  of  terror  and  extermination. 

In  reality  the  Jacobins  had  won  the  day.  They  were  victorious, 
but  on  condition  of  consummating  their  victory.  "  It  is  only  half 
achieved,"  said  Billaud-Varennes  that  evening  at  their  club.  They 
made  ready  to  complete  the  work. 

The  next  day  Barere  presented  to  the  Convention,  in  the  name 
of  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  an  address  to  Frenchmen  upon 
the  occurrences  of  May  31.  According  to  this  optimist  reporter, 
everything  had  been  for  the  best.  In  the  midst  of  this  pacific 
insurrection  the  Convention  had  been  free,  and  the  people  as  re- 
spectful as  energetic.  "  The  honorable  reconciliation  of  wrongs  had 
paved  the  way  for  the  reconciliation  of  hearts." 

Louvet  impetuously  protested  against  this  "  lying  project."  La- 
source  proposed  a  counter-plan  stigmatizing  the  conspirators  of  the 


1793.]        MAY  THIRTY-FIRST  AND  JUNE  SECOND.  433 

previous  day,  and  announcing  measures  through  which  the  Con- 
vention would  leave  the  conspirators  "  naught  but  shame,  contempt, 
and  death." 

Vergniaud  supported  Lasource  through  honor,  and  not  in  the 
hope  of  an  impossible  victory.  He  knew  too  well  that  the  majority 
would  not  pass  such  a  resolution.  Barere's  address  was  adopted, 
and  the  session  was  hastily  closed,  to  avoid  a  new  invasion. 

Marat,  however,  was  meanwhile  with  the  Committee  of  Public 
Welfare,  together  with  Mayor  Pache,  clamoring,  threatening,  and 
calling  upon  the  committee  to  convoke  the  Convention  for  an 
evening  session.  Cambon  and  Barere  promised  this,  and  Marat 
rushed  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  declaring  that  the  sovereign  people 
must  return  to  the  Convention,  and  not  withdraw  until  they  had 
a  definite  answer,  after  which  they  must  save  themselves  if  the 
national  representation  would  not  save  them. 

Marat  went  in  person  to  sound  the  tocsin.  The  rappd  was 
beaten  anew  in  all  the  sections.  The  commune,  with  the  two 
iveche'  committees  and  the  Jacobin  Assembly,  decreed  a  new 
petition,  which  it  was  intended  this  time  to  make  decisive. 

The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  however,  had  not  kept  its  word 
with  Marat.  It  had  not  convoked  the  Assembly.  Two  members 
of  the  Eight  had  assisted  in  preventing  the  convocation,  and  one 
of  them,  Meillan,  relates  in  his  Memoirs  that  he  attempted  to  per- 
suade Danton  to  save  the  Convention  and  France.  Danton,  who 
seemed  lost  in  gloomy  musings,  replied,  "  Things  cannot  go  on  any 
longer  in  this  way ;  one  side  or  the  other  [the  Eight  or  the  Left] 
must  submit."  "  Danton,"  rejoined  Meillan,  "  things  will  never  go 
on  any  better  until  a  man  of  power  puts  himself  at  their  head ;  and 
you  are  the  man  to  do  this.  You  can  manage  the  Committee  of 
Public  Welfare,  and  bring  good  out  of  evil." 

Danton  fixed  a  steady  gaze  on  him,  and  twice  repeated :  "  They 
have  no  confidence." 

Did  he  mean  his  colleagues  in  the  committee,  or  the  Girondists, 
or  both? 

He  would  gladly  have  done  what  was  asked  of  him ;  but  he  felt 
28 


434  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

that  his  action  would  have  no  support.  Cambon  alone  would  have 
seconded  him.  The  Girondist  leaders  also  deliberated.  Louvet 
openly  proposed  to  them  to  put  themselves  at  the  head  of  an  in- 
surrection of  the  departments;  the  rest  refused.  Vergniaud  re- 
peated: "Bather  death  than  civil  war!" 

At  the  sound  of  the  tocsin  a  hundred  deputies,  the  greater  por- 
tion belonging  to  the  Mountain  party,  assembled,  waiting  to  be 
summoned,  and  while  acknowledging  that  they  were  not  numerous 
enough  to  form  a  quorum,  they  received  the  deputation  from  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  The  deputation  demanded  the  indictment  of  the 
twenty-six  representatives  of  the  people  "  who  wished  to  federalize 
the  departments,  while  the  people  desired  a  republic,  one  and  indi- 
visible. Legislators,"  added  they,  "  this  must  end ! " 

The  Mountaineer  Legendre  went  beyond  the  petitioners,  and  pro- 
posed the  arrest  of  all  the  representatives  who  had  voted  for  an 
appeal  after  the  trial  of  Louis  XVI.  "  If  a  deputy  is  to  lose  his 
head  for  expressing  an  opinion,"  exclaimed  Cambon,  "  how  can  we 
speak  in 'future  ?  I  call  for  an  adjournment."  Cambon's  firm  atti- 
tude gave  Barere  new  courage. 

"The  prosecution  directed  against  the  twenty-six  members  is  un- 
just," he  said,  "  if  it  rests  only  upon  opinions  and  not  upon  facts. 
Freedom  of  opinion  should  be  sacred.  It  is  for  the  accusers  to  lay 
proofs  of  their  charges  before  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare." 

It  was  decided  that  this  committee  should  report  within  three 
days. 

The  petition  had  not  won  that  decisive  result  which  Marat  de- 
manded. The  fanatics  of  the  £veche  were  enraged  at  the  mildness 
of  the  commune,  and  accused  Dobsent,  their  own  president,  of  hav- 
ing become  a  moderate.  The  Jacobins  were  not  satisfied  with  them- 
selves. The  "moral  insurrection"  had  not  sufficed.  The  several 
factions  of  the  extreme  party  made  overtures  to  each  other,  and 
concerted  measures  to  force  the  Convention  to  make  an  end  of  the 
matter,  as  their  own  delegation  had  said.  , 

The  minister  of  the  interior,  Garat,  who  had  contributed  to  bring 
about  this  fatal  situation  by  the  false  security  with  which  he  had 


1793.]      MAY  THIRTY-FIRST  AND  JUNE  SECOND.  435 

inspired  the  Convention,  in  order  to  end  the  crisis  resorted  to  an 
expedient  borrowed  from  the  ancient  Greek  republics.  Before  the 
opening  of  the  session  he  proposed  to  the  Committee  of  Public  Wel- 
fare to  induce  those  of  the  representatives  whose  mutual  animosities 
had  rent  the  Assembly  in  twain,  to  leave  it  of  their  own  free  will, 
so  as  to  let  it  pursue  its  labors  uninterrupted  by  their  quarrels. 

The  members  of  the  committee  were  moved.  Danton  exclaimed, 
with  tears  in  his  eyes :  "  I  will  propose  this  expedient  to  the  Con- 
vention, and  will  be  the  first  to  offer  to  go  to  Bordeaux  as  a  hostage 
for  the  public  peace." 

If  Danton  had  broached  this  idea  on  the  tribune,  it  would  have 
produced  a  great  effect.  Unhappily,  Barere  first  spoke  of  it,  not  at 
the  tribune,  but  from  the  benches  of  the  Convention.  Robespierre 
disdainfully  rejected  the  proposition  as  a  "  snare  laid  for  patriots." 
This  last  hope  vanished. 

When  the  session  of  June  2  opened,  the  greater  part  of  the 
Girondists  were  absent.  They  had  refused  to  go  to  the  provinces 
to  stir  up  civil  war,  and  wished  to  return  to  the  Convention,  and 
await  their  fate  in  their  seats.  Their  friends  dissuaded  them  from 
carrying  out  this  noble  resolve,  which  would  have  been  worthy  of 
their  courage. 

Sinister  tidings  were  borne  to  the  Convention.  Upon  the  pre- 
ceding days  news  had  come  that  the  army  of  the  North  had  been 
unable  to  maintain  itself  in  the  camp  of  Famars,  which  protected 
Valenciennes,  and  that  this  important  place  was  blockaded  by  the 
enemy.  Intelligence  now  arrived  of  the  capture,  by  insurgent  roy- 
alists, of  Fontenay,  the  chief  place  of  La  Vendee ;  of  a  counter-revo- 
lutionary insurrection  in  the  department  of  Lozere ;  and  of  something 
far  more  grave,  civil  war  in  Lyons.  Events  at  Lyons  had  been  just 
the  reverse  of  those  in  Paris.  The  Lyonnais  sections,  nominally 
Girondist,  but  much  involved  with  counter-revolutionists,  having 
taken  arms  against  the  Jacobin  municipality,  had  violently  re- 
pelled the  intervention  of  the  two  representatives  sent  there  on 
a  mission,  and  had  taken  possession  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  after 
a  bloody  conflict. 


436  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

This  news  redoubled  the  excitement  of  the  Mountain.  The  Con- 
vention decreed  that  the  constituted  authorities,  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  the  Kepublic,  were  bound,  by  the  responsibility  they  had 
assumed,  to  cause  the  arrest  of  all  who  were  suspected  of  favoring 
the  aristocracy  and  of  want  of  patriotism. 

The  sound  of  the  g£n£rale  was  heard  in  the  distance.  Lanjuinais, 
one  of  the  few  Girondists  present,  boldly  demanded  that  the  Con- 
vention should  put  an  end  to  the  anarchical  movements  which 
were  renewed  in  Paris ;  he  denounced  that  usurping  committee  and 
that  rebellious  commune  which  had  brought  again  before  the  As- 
sembly a  slanderous  petition,  once  repudiated  by  the  Convention, 
and  "dragged  through  the  mire  of  Paris." 

A  frightful  tumult  ensued.  The  Mountaineers  clamored  that 
Lanjuinais  was  provoking  civil  war.  Legendre,  who  was  a  butcher, 
shouted  to  him,  with  a  gesture  which  recalled  his  trade,  "  Come 
down,  or  I  will  knock  you  in  the  head!" 

"  Procure  a  decree  that  I  am  an  ox,  and  you  may  do  so,"  cried  the 
intrepid  Breton. 

The  Mountain  deputies,  armed  with  pistols,  rushed  to  the  tribune 
to  force  the  orator  to  descend.  The  deputies  of  the  Eight,  armed  in 
like  manner,  ran  to  his  assistance.  The  president,  the  Mountaineer 
Malarme,  with  great  difficulty  prevented  a  murderous  conflict.  Lan- 
juinais did  not  stir,  and  ended  by  demanding  that  all  the  revolu- 
tionary authorities  of  Paris,  and  especially  the  ]£vech£  committee, 
should  be  dissolved,  and  that  whoever  arrogated  to  himself  an 
authority  contrary  to  the  law  should  be  declared  outlawed. 

Those  who  had  denounced  Lanjuinais  appeared  at  this  moment 
at  the  bar.  A  deputation  "from  the  revolutionary  authorities  of  the 
department  of  Paris  "  notified  the  Convention  that  it  must  instantly 
decree  the  arrest  of  the  "  factious  "  deputies.  "  We  answer  for  them 
to  their  departments  with  our  heads,"  they  said.  "  Save  the  people, 
or  we  declare  to  you  that  they  will  save  themselves." 

The  arrogance  of  this  language  stirred  the  Mountain  itself.  The 
president  replied,  with  dignity,  that  the  first  duty  of  good  citizens 
was  respect  for  the  national  representatives,  and  if  there  were 


1793.]        MAY  THIRTY-FIRST  AND  JUNE  SECOND.  437 

traitors  in  the  Assembly,  as  it  was  averred,  before  punishing  them 
it  was  requisite  to  prove  their  crimes.  "  The  Convention  will 
inquire  into  your  demand,"  he  said ;  "  it  will  carefully  weigh  the 
measures  suggested  by  its  wisdom,  and  courageously  execute  what- 
ever may  appear  to  it  necessary." 

Billaud-Varennes  and  Tallien  demanded  that  the  Committee  of 
Public  Welfare  should  make  its  report  upon  the  petition  on  the 
spot,  and  without  adjournment.  The  Convention  passed  over  this 
proposition  and  resumed  its  regular  proceedings. 

The  petitioners  departed.  The  cry  of  "To  arms!"  was  raised  from 
the  tribunes. 

"  Save  the  populace  from  itself ! "  cried  a  panic-stricken  deputy 
of  the  Centre.  "  Save  your  colleagues ;  decree  their  temporary 
arrest ! "  "  No  ! "  exclaimed  the  Right.  "  No ! "  echoed  a  part  of 
the  Mountain,  rising  with  the  Eight.  "  We  will  all  go  to  prison,  to 
share  the  fetters  of  our  colleagues,"  said  La  Reveillere-Le'paux,  he 
who  afterwards  belonged  to  the  Directory.  The  entire  Eight  re- 
echoed his  words. 

The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  tried  to  interpose  and  to  sep- 
arate the  Jacobins  from  the  £v^ch4  madmen.  It  was  decided 
immediately  to  present  the  report  for  which  the  Convention  had 
allowed  it  three  days;  but  at  the  same  time  it  sent  a  message  to 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  demanding  that  the  lilveche'  delegates  should 
be  excluded  from  the  central  revolutionary  committee. 

The  general  council  of  the  commune  yielded,  and  decided  that  the 
delegates  of  the  Jacobin  departmental  assembly  should  alone  form 
henceforth  the  central  revolutionary  committee.  This  committee, 
thus  purged,  caused  the  arrest  of  one  of  the  fivech^  delegates,  the 
Spaniard  Guzman,  for  proposing  the  massacre  or  expulsion  of  the 
Convention. 

The  commune,  Eobespierre,  and  the  Jacobins  agreed  not  to  repeat 
the  actions  of  the  2d  of  September,  but  to  exert  a  crushing  pressure 
on  the  Convention,  that  would  wring  from  it  the  indictment  of  the 
Girondists  without  bloodshed.  It  was  for  this  that  they  had  called 
out  the  whole  national  guard,  while  distributing  it  with  diabolic  art. 


438  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

They  had  placed  some  thousands  of  men  of  whom  they  were  sure 
in  the  courts  and  in  the  garden,  and  kept  at  a  distance  the  rest  of 
the  armed  masses,  who  thus  lent  them  a  passive  and  seeming  co- 
operation. 

Barere  read  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  on 
these  proceedings.  The  committee  did  not  adopt  "  the  measure  of 
arrest " ;  it  addressed  itself  to  the  patriotism  and  generosity  of  the 
accused  members,  and  asked  of  them  the  voluntary  and  temporary 
suspension  of  their  powers,  "  in  order  to  restore  peace  to  the  Re- 
public." 

"  If  my  blood  were  necessary  to  save  the  Republic,"  said  Isnard, 
"  I  would  voluntarily  lay  my  head  on  the  block.  The  committee 
demands  our  suspension  for  the  public  safety !  I  willingly  consent." 
Bishop  Fouchet  and  some  others  said  the  same. 

"  Expect  from  me  neither  resignation  nor  suspension,"  cried  Lan- 
juinais ;  "  sacrifices  should  be  free,  and  we  are  under  compulsion." 

Marat  and  Billaud-Varennes  protested  against  the  proposition 
of  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  and  demanded  the  indictment 
instead  of  the  suspension  of  suspected  members.  Great  tumult 
arose ;  the  delegates  who  had  sought  to  leave  re-entered  indignant 
and  exasperated,  with  their  garments  in  tatters.  They  had  been 
driven  back  and  brutally  maltreated  by  the  armed  force  that 'guarded 
the  outlets.  This  was  not  what  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare 
had  expected  in  treating  with  the  commune. 

Lacroix,  Danton's  friend,  and  a  member  of  the  committee,  rushed 
to  the  tribune.  "  We  have  sworn  to  live  and  to  die  free,"  he  said ; 
"  we  should  know  how  to  die,  but  we  must  die  free.  I  demand  that 
the  officer  commanding  the  armed  force  be  summoned  to  this  bar." 

"  Let  him  who  gave  the  order  be  punished  with  death ! "  said 
Bishop  Gregoire. 

"  New  tyrants  besiege  us,"  said  Barere.  "  These  tyrants  are  in 
the  revolutionary  committee,  and  also  in  the  general  council  of  the 
commune.  The  outbreak  about  us  comes  from  London  and  Berlin  ; 
there  are  agents  of  foreign  powers  in  the  revolutionary  committee. 
At  this  very  moment,  under  our  eyes,  they  are  distributing  five- 


1793.]        MAY  THIRTY-FIRST  AND  JUNE  SECOND.  439 

franc  assignats  among  the  battalions  that  surround  us.  Representa- 
tives of  the  people,  assert  your  liberty ;  order  the  bayonets  around 
you  to  be  lowered ! " 

The  commander  of  the  Assembly  guard  declared  that  it  was  not 
he  who  had  given  the  order,  and  that  his  posts  had  been  invaded  by 
an  outside  mob,  the  sans-culottes,  in  the  pay  of  the  commune. 

Upon  Lacroix's  motion  the  Convention  issued  a  decree  ordering 
the  armed  force  to  withdraw. 

Danton  declared  that  in  the  name  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Welfare  he  assumed  the  duty  of  investigating  the  source  of  the 
order  issued  against  the  Convention,  and  of  devising  means  to 
avenge  the  insulted  national  majesty. 

It  was  discovered  that  the  order  to  hold  the  Convention  prisoners 
came  from  the  commandant  of  the  Mauconseil  section.  This  section 
was  wholly  controlled  by  Robespierre.  The  Committee  of  Public 
Welfare,  therefore,  had  gained  nothing  by  causing  the  exclusion  of 
the  Eve'che'  men  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The  Jacobins,  in  their 
turn,  were  passing  from  "  moral  insurrection  "  to  violence.  Henriot 
replied  with  abuse  to  the  order,  transmitted  by  a  hussar,  to  with- 
draw the  armed  force. 

Barere  renewed  the  effort  made  by  Vergniaud  on  the  31st  of  May. 
"  I  call  on  the  Convention,"  said  he,  "  to  repair  to  the  quarters  of 
the  national  guard  and  pursue  its  deliberations  in  its  midst,  where 
it  will  doubtless  receive  protection." 

The  majority  of  the  national  guard,  although  irritated  at  Isnard 
and  disaffected  toward  the  Girondists,  was  exceedingly  hostile  to 
the  £veche,  and  had  little  sympathy  with  the  commune  or  even 
with  the  Jacobins.  It  would  certainly  have  welcomed  the  Conven- 
tion ;  but  the  question  was  how  to  reach  it. 

The  president  of  the  Convention  arose,  followed  by  the  Right  and 
the  Centre ;  and  afterwards,  in  spite  of  the  clamors  from  the  trib- 
unes, by  the  greater  portion  of  the  Mountain.  There  remained  only 
twenty  or  thirty  Maratists  and  ultra  Jacobins.  The  Convention 
descended  into  the  court  on  the  Carrousel  side.  There  the  president 
found  himself  opposite  the  commanding  general  The  president 


440  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

was  He"rault  de  Se"chelles,  an  ex-magistrate  of  large  fortune  who, 
like  Lepelletier,  had  been  a  Mountaineer,  but  who  had  neither  the 
character  nor  the  moral  worth  of  this  victim  of  the  21st  of  January. 

As  for  General  Henriot,  an  ex-lackey  and  charlatan,  who  had 
become  popular  in  the  Faubourg  Saint-Marceau  through  his  swag- 
gering air  and  loud  voice,  and  had  afterwards  been  adopted  as  an 
instrument  of  blind  and  brutal  tyranny  by  the  commune  and  the 
Jacobins,  —  both  he  and  his  chief-of-staff  were  intoxicated.  The 
president  proclaimed  the  order  of  the  Convention  to  the  armed  force 
to  withdraw.  "  You  cannot  give  orders  here,"  replied  Henriot, 
pulling  his  hat  over  his  brows  and  drawing  his  sabre.  "  Eeturn  to 
your  post,  and  deliver  up  the  victims  called  for  by  the  people." 
"The  victims!  We  shall  all  be  such!"  cried  the  deputies  who 
accompanied  the  president.  "To  arms!"  exclaimed  Henriot.  "Gun- 
ners, to  your  pieces ! "  The  cannon  were  placed  in  position,  and 
the  guns  lowered.  Henriot  and  his  horde  in  their  brutality  went 
beyond  the  instructions  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

"  All  is  over ;  liberty  is  lost ! "  cried  Lacroix.  Danton  was 
silent. 

It  was  afterwards  said  that,  seeing  the  Convention  powerless  to 
open  the  way,  he  had  gone  over  to  the  strongest  side  and  had  said 
to  Henriot :  "  Don't  be  afraid,  go  on  as  you  have  begun ! "  It  was 
Danton's  enemies,  those  clamoring  for  his  execution,  who  attrib- 
uted these  words  to  him;  but  it  is  too  true  that  he  feigned  to 
approve  afterwards  of  what  in  reality  had  filled  him  with  horror. 

A  deputy  took  the  president  by  the  arm  and  made  him  turn  to 
the  Left.  The  Convention  followed.  The  armed  groups  upon  the 
side  toward  the  Marsan  pavilion  were  immovable,  and  had  by  no 
means  a  menacing  air;  nevertheless,  they  also  barred  the  way. 
The  Convention  turned  through  the  vestibule  of  the  Tuileries 
toward  the  garden.  The  soldiers  who  occupied  the  garden  cried : 
"  Long  live  the  Convention !  Long  live  the  Mountain ! "  A  few 
exclaimed :  "  To  the  guillotine  with  the  Girondists  ! " 

Some  deputies  mounted  the  terrace  on  the  river-bank,  and  saw 
upon  the  quay  numerous  battalions  with  a  troubled  air,  who  mo- 


1793.]        MAY  THIRTY-FIRST  AND   JUNE  SECOND.  441 

tioned  to  them  to  join  them.  The  drawbridge,  however,  was  guarded; 
there,  as  in  the  courts,  the  Convention  was  prevented  from  passing. 

Marat  rushed  up,  followed  by  a  group  of  ragged  children.  "  I 
summon  you,  in  the  name  of  the  people,"  cried  he,  "  to  return  to 
your  post ! " 

The  Mountain  returned  in  silence  to  the  palace.  The  rest  fol- 
lowed. The  Assembly  re-entered.  Couthon,  the  intimate  friend 
of  Robespierre,  a  paralytic,  who  had  remained  in  his  chair  and  had 
not  seen  what  was  going  on  outside,  took  up  the  discourse :  — 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  that  all  the  members  of  the  Convention  must 
admit  that  they  are  free  in  their  deliberations,  and  that  the  people 
are  incapable  of  attacking  the  safety  of  their  representatives,  I  de- 
mand not  merely  the  indictment  of  the  members  denounced,  but 
that  they  shall  be  under  arrest  in  their  homes,  as  well  as  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Commission  of  the  Twelve,  and  the  ministers  Claviere 
and  Lebrun." 

The  names  to  be  placed  upon  the  list  were  read.  Marat  consti- 
tuted himself  dictator,  and  erased  and  added  names  at  his  pleasure. 
The  Right  demanded  a  call  by  name,  hoping  that  the  Centre  would 
recoil  before  such  dishonor. 

The  Centre  evaded  the  courageous  resolution  demanded  of  it,  and 
abstained  from  voting.  The  Right  protested.  The  Mountain  voted 
promiscuously  with  the  outsiders  who  had  invaded  its  benches. 

The  deputies  whose  arrest  was  decreed  were  thirty-one  in  number; 
among  them  were  Vergniaud,  Guadet,  Gensonne",  Brissot,  Petion,- 
Barbaroux,  Buzot,  Rabaut-Saint-£tienne,  Lasource,  Lanjuinais,  Lou- 
vet,  and  Valaze.  Isnard  and  Fouchet,  having  consented  to  be 
suspended  from  their  functions,  were  not  sentenced  to  arrest,  but 
were  only  forbidden  to  leave  Paris. 

The  fatal  session  of  June  2  ended  at  eleven  in  the  evening. 

Under  pretext  of  opposing  federalism,  a  faction  of  the  nation,  a 
commune  which  did  not  represent  even  the  majority  of  Paris,  had 
placed  under  its  yoke  the  national  representation,  the  legal  organ 
of  French  unity.  The  mistake  of  the  Girondists  had  contributed 
to  bring  about  this  great  catastrophe;  but  its  prime  cause  dated 


442  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIV. 

back  still  further,  namely,  to  a  very  grave  error  of  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  which  had  mistaken  the  requisite  conditions  for  the 
organization  of  the  capital  In  Paris,  which  was  not  an  ordinary 
commune,  but,  as  the  Jacobins  themselves  said,  the  sum  total  of 
France,  the  Constituent  Assembly  had  confided  the  disposal  of  the 
armed  force  to  the  municipality,  the  local  authority,  and  not  to  the 
national  government. 

It  was  an  excessive  reaction  against  monarchical  centralization,  to 
place  the  law  on  one  side  and  the  force  on  the  other.  The  Con- 
vention had  not  had  the  wisdom  to  rectify  this  mistake. 

Liberty  and  the  Republic  were  lost ;  for  a  republic  is  the  govern- 
ment of  law,  and  there  was  no  longer  any  law.  The  minority  had 
overpowered  the  majority  by  force,  and  henceforth  there  could  be 
naught  but  dictatorships. 

It  still  remained  to  preserve  the  national  independence,  that  is  to 
say,  the  very  existence  of  France,  and  equality,  the  foundation  of 
modern  social  institutions,  and  of  a  new  system  of  civil  rights 
destined  to  replace  that  of  the  Ancient  Regime.  Upon  this  dual 
basis  Liberty  and  the  Republic  could  and  would  one  day  arise 
anew.  This  dual  basis  the  Convention  was  wise  enough  to  secure 
to  France. 


1793.1  THE  CONVENTION.  443 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued}.  —  DEPARTMENTAL  RESISTANCE.  —  CON- 
STITUTION OF  1793.  —  CHARLOTTE  CORD  AY.  —  CIVIL  WAR  AND  FOR- 
EIGN WAR.  —  DEFENCE  OF  NANTES.  —  LOSS  OF  MAYENCE  AND 
VALENCIENNES.  —  THE  CIVIL  CODE. 

Jane  3  to  August  23,  1793. 

rTlHEEE  had  been  little  earnest  protest,  but  much  depression  in 
-L  Paris  since  the  2d  of  June.  The  victorious  party  sought  on 
the  one  hand  to  intimidate,  and  on  the  other  to  appease  the  popu- 
lace. A  fete  in  honor  of  the  federation  which  was  to  restore  union 
to  France  was  announced  to  take  place  on  the  10th  of  August. 
The  speedy  completion  of  the  Constitution  was  promised,  —  a  work 
hitherto  retarded,  it  was  alleged,  by  dissensions  raised  by  the  Giron- 
dists. The  people  strove  to  blind  themselves  by  clinging  to  hopes 
like  these. 

The  aspect  of  the  Convention  was  gloomy  and  sullen  on  the 
morning  after  the  fatal  day,  when  it  re-entered  the  Tuileries,  where 
it  had  been  held  captive  and  humiliated,  June  2, 1793,  as  Louis  XVI. 
had  been,  June  20,  1792.  By  deciding  to  remain  at  its  post,  it 
achieved  a  most  patriotic  work.  Abased  and  mutilated  as  it  was, 
it  was  the  last  hope  of  France.  Had  the  Convention  dispersed  or 
divided  into  two  parts,  the  one  sitting  in  Paris  and  the  other  in 
some  one  of  the  departments,  the  whole  government  would  have 
crumbled  to  pieces. 

The  Mountain  had  shared  both  the  affront  and  the  resentment 
of  the  former  majority.  The  commune  and  not  the  Mountain  had 
triumphed  on  the  2d  of  June.  « 

The  commune,  however,  was  not  prepared  to  follow  up  its  sue- 


444  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

cess.  On  the  6th  of  June  the  central  revolutionary  committee 
announced  that  its  work  was  accomplished,  and  tendered  its  resig- 
nation. The  committee  had  been  composed  of  young  men  and 
Jacobins  drawn  from  obscurity  for  this  great  master-stroke,  and 
now  relegated  to  their  former  condition.  Eobespierre,  the  chief 
leader,  and  the  Jacobins  intended  to  rule  the  Convention,  but  not 
to  displace  it  by  the  commune,  with  which  they  could  not  carry  on 
the  government  of  France.  It  was  in  reality  the  Jacobin  leaders 
and  not  the  obscure  ^veche  conspirators  who  profited  by  what  was 
openly  called  "the  Eevolution  of  May  31  and  June  2." 

The  preponderance  of  the  Jacobins  was  attested  by  the  fact  that 
most  of  the  plans  and  measures  submitted  to  the  Convention  were 
drawn  up  at  their  club.  These  measures  were  generally  character- 
ized by  an  authoritative  and  dictatorial  tone.  Young  Robespierre 
said  openly  that  liberty  of  the  press  ought  to  be  abolished  when  it 
endangered  public  liberty.  The  Girondist  journals  were  suspended, 
in  fact,  and  letters  were  opened  at  the  post-office  by  the  revolu- 
tionary committees.  The  Jacobin  idea  was  to  suspend  all  liberty 
in  the  present  in  order  to  secure  liberty  in  the  future.  Herein  was 
the  real  difference  between  the  Jacobins  and  the  Girondists.  The 
latter  sought  liberty  through  liberty  itself ;  the  former  sought  lib- 
erty through  dictatorship. 

The  victory  of  Robespierre  and  his  friends  was  not,  however, 
complete ;  the  Convention  was  not  yet  in  their  hands.  The  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Welfare  was  preparing  for  resistance  and  reaction. 

On  the  4th  of  June  the  courageous  bishop,  Gregoire,  demanded 
that  the  minutes  of  the  session  of  June  2  should  make  mention  of 
the  insults  and  acts  of  violence  that  had  been  offered  the  National 
Convention.  His  demand  was  not  granted ;  and  the  Assembly  re- 
sumed its  regular  proceedings,  but  took  measures  in  behalf  of  those 
of  its  members  who  had  been  placed  under  arrest.  They  were  to 
retain  their  indemnity  as  representatives,  and  to  be  allowed  liberty 
to  go  where  they  chose  under  the  surveillance  of  a  gendarme. 

That  evening,  on  the  receipt  of  a  letter  from  Lanjuinais,  who  had 
been  arrested,  and  who  demanded  a  prompt  report  from  the  Com- 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  445 

mittee  of  Public  Welfare,  the  Assembly  decreed  that  the  report 
should  be  presented  within  three  days. 

The  deputies  who  had  been  arrested  and  their  friends  in  the 
Assembly  maintained  a  haughty  bearing.  Valaze*  wrote  that  he 
rejected  with  abhorrence  the  amnesty  which  it  was  said  that  the 
committee  intended  to  propose  for  the  thirty-two.  Fonfrede  an- 
nounced that  French  citizens  (Bordelais)  would  come  in  arms  to 
demand  the  release  of  the  representatives.  There  was  great  agita- 
tion in  the  Assembly.  The  Jacobin  Chabot  protested  that  no  one 
sought  the  lives  of  the  accused.  Vergniaud  had  written  that  he 
should  submit  to  the  decree  of  arrest  issued  against  him ;  in  another 
letter  he  offered  his  head  if  he  were  convicted  of  treason,  and 
demanded  the  heads  of  his  accusers  if  they  should  not  prove  their 
charge. 

Marat  declared  that  he  resigned  his  functions  as  representative 
until  after  the  trial  of  the  accused  deputies,  in  order  that  he  might 
no  longer  be  charged  with  fomenting  strife.  His  dictatorship  of 
June  2  had  exasperated  the  Mountain  against  him,  and  he  was 
conscious  of  it. 

The  Convention  sought  to  rise  from  its  political  abasement  by 
energetically  resuming  the  social  work  of  the  Kevolution.  In  its 
sessions  of  the  3d  and  4th  of  June  it  appointed  special  committees 
to  prepare  the  civil  code,  to  offer  rewards  to  the  authors  of  good 
elementary  school-books,  which  should  serve  as  the  basis  of  pub- 
lic instruction,  and  to  regulate  the  division  of  the  public  property 
ordained  by  the  Legislative  Assembly.  We  shall  return  to  these 
important  subjects. 

June  6  Barere  presented  to  the  Convention  the  draft  of  a  decree 
which  was  most  audacious  for  a  timid  man  like  him,  who  was 
accustomed  to  range  himself  on  the  powerful  and  successful  side. 
His  plan  expressed  guarded  but  evident  disapproval  of  the  events 
of  May  31  and  June  2,  and  referred  to  the  "  impure  sediment "  at 
the  bottom  of  the  revolutionary  movement,  while  it  protested 
against  that  degrading  system  so  long  tolerated  by  the  Convention. 
He  openly  attacked  the  revolutionary  committees  which  menaced 


446  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

the  national  sovereignty,  and  substituted  despotism  and  violence 
for  law. 

"The  general  council  of  the  commune,"  continued  Barere,  "not 
having  as  yet  sent  the  promised  documents  concerning  the  im- 
peachment of  the  arrested  deputies,  the  charges  against  them  are 
still  uncertain.  Until  France  decides  in  this  great  trial  it  would 
be  well  for  us  to  offer  her  hostages." 

Danton  eagerly  interrupted  Barere  to  approve  the  proposition. 
Couthon,  moved  by  a  sudden  and  sincere  impulse,  offered  to  go 
himself  as  a  hostage  to  Bordeaux.  Barere  ended  by  proposing  the 
following  measures :  — 

The  suppression  of  all  revolutionary  committees ;  the  bestowal 
upon  the  Convention  of  the  direct  control  of  the  army ;  the  imme- 
diate appointment  of  a  commanding-general  of  the  national  guard 
by  the  Paris  sections ;  the  punishment  of  eight  years  in  chains  for 
any  one  who  had  ordered  the  tampering  with  private  letters ;  the 
sending  to  the  departments  whose  representatives  were  under  arrest 
an  equal  number  of  hostages  from  the  Convention. 

Barere  ended  by  announcing  that  the  draft  of  the  new  Consti- 
tution would  be  ready  in  three  days,  and  that  the  new  fete  in  cele- 
bration of  the  federation  of  the  departments  would  take  place  on 
the  10th  of  August. 

Barere  had  only  expressed  the  ideas  of  Danton  and  Cambon ; 
unhappily  for  them  and  for  France,  the  Girondists  would  not  com- 
prehend the  real  unity  between  themselves  and  the  men  they  so 
bitterly  opposed. 

The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  more  courageous  after  than 
during  the  crisis,  made  a  last  attempt  to  save  the  Girondists,  to 
suppress  anarchy,  and  to  restore  union  in  the  Republic.  After  the 
session,  seventy-three  deputies  of  the  Right  drew  up  a  protest 
against  the  outrages  of  June  2.  The  agitation  was  extreme  in 
Paris ;  several  sections  repudiated  their  revolutionary  committees. 
On  the  other  hand,  Danton  was  denounced  at  the  Jacobin  Club. 
Camille  Desmoulins  defended  him,  and  not  without  difficulty  in- 
duced the  club  to  drop  the  subject.  The  Convention  also  declined 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  447 

to  take  action  on  Madame  Roland's  protest  against  her  arrest,  on 
the  plea  of  lack  of  authority.  This  was  a  bad  sign  (June  7). 

At  the  session  of  June  8  Robespierre  attacked  the  project  of  the 
committees,  and  maintained  the  necessity  of  the  insurrection  of 
June  2  and  the  continuance  of  the  revolutionary  committees.  He 
scouted  the  idea  of  hostages.  Barere  abandoned  his  proposal  in 
regard  to  hostages,  which  the  Right  as  well  as  the  Left  most  un- 
wisely opposed,  and  sustained  but  feebly  the  rest  of  his  plan. 
Danton  also  faltered  in  his  support  of  it,  but  said  that  the  Con- 
vention ought  to  organize  a  national  tribunal  in  due  form,  for  the 
trial  of  the  accused  deputies.  This  would  have  taken  them  away 
from  the  revolutionary  tribunal  The  project  was  referred  to  the 
committee ;  in  other  words,  it  was  suppressed. 

The  next  day  the  Jacobins  addressed  to  the  affiliated  societies 
a  manifesto  prepared  by  Camille  Desmoulins,  and  summing  up 
all  the  insane  charges  of  his  pamphlets  against  Brissot  and  the 
Girondists.  Camille  was  still  under  Robespierre's  influence.  The 
Convention  was  assailed  by  contradictory  addresses  from  the  depart- 
ments, some  approving  and  others  protesting  against  the  proceed- 
ings of  June  2.  Several  departments  of  the  West  and  South  were 
not  content  with  protests.  The  people  of  Caen,  Evreux,  Rennes,  and 
Bordeaux  took  up  arms;  three  of  the  Breton  departments  issued 
an  address  inviting  all  the  local  governments  of  the  departments 
to  join  with  them  in  choosing  substitutes  for  the  members  of  the 
Convention,  until  the  latter  should  have  recovered  their  liberty. 

Some  of  the  arrested  deputies  had  already  escaped  from  Paris, 
and  others  succeeded  in  doing  so,  one  by  one.  The  absence  of  fixed 
plans  and  unity  of  action,  which  had  always  characterized  the  Gi- 
rondist party,  continued  in  its  adversity  as  in  its  prosperity.  The 
accused  Girondists  knew  not  how  to  decide  between  two  courses : 
whether  to  remain  and  await  their  trial,  or  to  leave  Paris ;  whether 
to  leave  France,  or  to  organize  resistance.  While  Vergniaud,  Gen- 
son  n^,  Valaze,  and  others  remained,  and  urgently  demanded  to  be 
brought  to  trial,  Buzot  and  two  of  his  colleagues  proceeded  to 
Normandy,  where  they  were  soon  after  rejoined  by  Louvet,  Gua- 


448  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

det,  Potion,  Barbaroux,  and  Lanjuinais.  Brissot  was  arrested  at 
Moulins. 

Adverse  tidings  came  from  the  frontiers.  In  the  North,  Conde* 
was  besieged,  Valenciennes  invested  and  its  citadel  bombarded; 
Mayence  also  was  besieged.  It  was  fortunate  that  the  enemy  did 
not  march  directly  upon  Paris,  which  would  have  been  at  its  mercy. 
In  the  South,  the  Spaniards  had  effected  an  entrance  on  French 
territory  at  the  two  extremities  of  the  Pyrenees,  the  volunteer 
patriots  of  Auvergne  and  Languedoc  employed  in  quelling  revolt 
elsewhere  having  been  unable  to  send  a  force  strong  enough  to 
resist  them. 

The  news  from  La  Vendee  was  still  worse.  The  Vendean  rebels 
had  concentrated  their  bands  and  placed  them  under  the  leadership 
of  two  able  men,  the  Abbe  Bernier  and  D'Elbe'e.  The  republican 
force  opposed  to  them  was  large  enough,  but  was  composed  mostly 
of  undisciplined  recruits  who  had  never  been  under  fire.  The 
Vendean  troops  threw  themselves  between  the  three  republican 
corps  posted  at  Thouars,  Doue,  and  Saumur,  driving  back  the  Doue' 
corps  upon  Saumur  and  defeating  the  Thouars  corps,  which  was 
seeking  to  effect  a  junction  with  the  two  others ;  they  then  assailed 
Saumur,  which  after  a  long  and  doubtful  conflict  fell  into  their 
hands  on  the  10th  of  June.  The  capture  of  Saumur  placed  Nantes 
in  imminent  peril. 

Such  danger  excited  and  exasperated  the  Mountain  party.  The 
session  of  June  13  was  a  terrible  one.  Danton,  who  a  few  days 
before  had  taken  part  in  the  reactionary  movement  against  June  2, 
now  turned  round  abruptly  and  inveighed  against  the  deputies  who 
had  fled,  he  declared,  only  to  raise  insurrection  in  the  departments. 
He  styled  the  Girondists  "  that  impious  sect,"  and  Brissot  "  a  miser- 
able conspirator,"  and  urged  the  Convention  to  declare  that  liberty 
was  henceforth  impossible  without  an  uprising  in  Paris.  "  Citizens," 
cried  he,  "  tell  the  French  people  to  rally  around  the  Convention, 
and  to  arm  themselves  only  against  the  rebels  of  La  Vendee  ! " 

Thuriot  went  so  far  as  to  accuse  the  malcontents  of  Normandy 
of  being  accomplices  of  the  Vendeans ;  the  Mountain  believed  the 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  449 

charge,  and  was  most  unjust  and  violent  against  the  Girondists, 
those  steadfast  republicans  who  had  been  the  first  to  urge  the 
forcible  suppression  of  the  Vende'an  revolt.  The  Convention  in- 
dicted Buzot  and  Brissot,  who,  in  conjunction  with  the  Eolands, 
Condorcet,  and  Camille  Desmoulins,  had  been  the  first  to  demand 
a  republic  in  France  at  the  time  when  Robespierre  was  still  inquir- 
ing what  a  republic  was. 

Couthon,  supported  by  Robespierre,  carried  a  resolution  that  dur- 
ing the  three  days,  May  31  and  June  1  and  2,  the  revolutionary 
general  council  of  the  commune  and  the  people  of  Paris  had  power- 
fully concurred  in  preserving  the  liberty,  unity,  and  indivisibility 
of  the  Republic.  Couthon  and  Saint- Just  were  added  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Welfare,  and  Robespierre's  spirit  entered  it  with 
them. 

The  members  of  the  committee  thus  repudiated  their  own  effort 
at  reaction,  and  sanctioned  the  atrocities  they  had  held  in  abhor- 
rence, while  the  Convention  ratified  its  humiliation,  and,  so  to  speak, 
gloried  in  it.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in  such  a  revulsion  private 
interest  might  have  prevailed  with  a  timid  man  like  Barere,  and 
had  its  influence  on  a  man  ruled  by  passion  and  not  by  principle 
like  Danton;  but  anxiety  for  himself  was  not  everything  with 
Danton,  and  had  not  the  least  weight  with  the  inflexible  Cambon. 
Before  the  rapid  progress  of  events  these  men  had  believed  the 
disasters  of  June  2  irreparable,  and  had  thought  that  although  the 
deed  had  been  detestable,  a  reaction  would  go  beyond  all  bounds 
and  overthrow  the  Revolution. 

To  form  a  sound  judgment  of  this  terrible  period  of  French 
history,  we  must  take  our  stand  above  all  parties  and  consider  only 
the  safety  of  France.  Had  France  been  called  to  deal  only  with 
domestic  affairs,  armed  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Girondists 
when  the  national  representation  was  violated  would  have  been  a 
duty ;  but  in  the  face  of  a  foreign  invasion  and  the  Vendean  revolt 
a  Girondist  insurrection  would  have  led  to  the  ruin  of  the  country. 
It  would  have  involved  the  Girondists  in  a  civil  war  with  the  com- 
mune and  the  Jacobins,  and  they  would  not  have  been  content  with 
29 


450  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

crushing  these  enemies.  Urged  on  by  the  royalists,  who  already 
fraternized  with  them,  they  would  have  sought  in  turn  "  to  purge 
the  Convention,"  to  overthrow  the  Mountain,  and  to  arrest  or  recall 
the  representatives  absent  on  missions  to  the  departments  and  the 
armies.  Almost  all  those  delegates  from  the  Assembly  who  were 
the  soul  of  the  resistance  against  foreign  powers  belonged  to  the 
Mountain,  which  was  the  party  of  the  men  of  action  who  could 
never  have  been  replaced  by  the  Girondists,  who  were  skilled  with 
tongue  and  pen,  but  who,  while  knowing  how  to  die  like  heroes, 
knew  not  how  to  conquer.  To  overthrow  the  Mountain  would  have 
been  to  overthrow  the  right  arm  of  the  Eevolution. 

The  change  of  opinion  which  had  been  wrought  in  the  commit- 
tee brought  it,  for  a  time,  into  conformity  with  the  views  of  Robes- 
pierre,  who,  now  that  he  had  attained  to  power,  abandoned  his 
anarchical  and  factious  propositions,  and  moderated  whatever  was 
ultra  in  his  ideas  concerning  social  reform. 

He  and  Danton  had  demanded  the  formation,  in  Paris  and  in  the 
large  towns,  of  a  revolutionary  army,  of  a  corps  of  hired  sans-culottes. 
The  Convention  had  decreed  it.  The  Girondists  once  overthrown, 
Robespierre  and  the  Jacobins  no  longer  desired  this  dangerous 
organization,  and  urged  both  the  sections  and  the  artillery  com- 
panies—  the  elite  of  the  national  guard  —  to  protest  against  this 
favoritism,  which  made  privileged  guards  of  a  part  of  the  sans- 
culottes. The  revolutionary  army  was  not  organized  in  Paris. 

Eobespierre  had  proposed  to  exempt  poor  citizens  from  taxation. 
He  formally  retracted  this  proposition,  having  become  enlightened, 
he  said,  as  to  the  real  feeling  of  the  people,  who  discerned  an  insult, 
and  the  establishment  of  a  proletarian  class,  in  this  apparent  favor. 
He  contented  himself  with  asking  as  an  equivalent  for  the  obliga- 
tion of  all  to  contribute  to  the  public  burdens,  —  the  adoption  of 
the  principle  that  society  owes  the  necessaries  of  life  to  those  of  its 
members  who  cannot  procure  them  by  their  labor.  He  showed  equal 
moderation  in  the  debate  upon  the  compulsory  loan  of  a  billion, 
little  of  which  had  been  paid  in,  and  concerning  which  the  Conven- 
tion was  obliged  to  issue  a  new  decree,  and  obtained  the  exemption 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  451 

of  those  whose  income  was  less  than  ten  thousand  livres,  a  sum 
perhaps  equal  to  twenty-five  thousand  francs  at  the  present  time. 
Robespierre's  idea  was  to  throw  the  whole  burden  of  taxation  upon 
the  wealthy,  and  to  abolish  great  fortunes  in  favor,  not  of  commun- 
ism or  anything  resembling  it,  but  of  men  of  small  means.  This 
could  not  be  effected  by  decrees,  and  the  measure  resulted  only  in 
a  failure  to  raise  the  loan. 

The  Assembly  was  now  absorbed  in  discussions  on  the  Consti- 
tution. On  the  15th  of  February  Condorcet  had  presented  a  first 
draft  in  the  name  of  a  committee  controlled  by  the  Girondists.  The 
discussion  did  not  begin  until  the  loth  of  April,  and  was  frequently 
interrupted  both  by  urgent  business  and  by  party  quarrels.  After 
June  2  the  Convention  instructed  a  new  committee,  of  which 
Herault  de  Sechelles,  Saint-Just,  and  Couthon  were  members,  to 
draw  up  a  new  draft  in  concert  with  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety. 
Herault  presented  it  on  the  10th  of  June,  and  it  was  adopted  on 
the  23d,  after  a  brief  debate. 

The  Mountain  Constitution  was  much  less  elaborate  than  that  of 
the  Girondists  had  been,  and  savored  of  haste ;  yet  there  was  some- 
thing imposing  in  its  very  brevity,  in  its  axiomatic  and  incisive 
form,  which  manifested  the  characteristics  of  one  of  its  authors, 
Saint-Just. 

Like  the  Constitutions  of  1789  and  1791,  this  also  was  prefaced 
by  a  Declaration  of  Eights,  but  in  its  preamble  there  was  one  most 
important  omission ;  the  name  of  the  Supreme  Being  was  not  men- 
tioned. This  was  not  because  the  Girondists  were  an  atheistic  sect : 
most  of  them  were  as  much  disciples  of  Rousseau's  philosophy  as 
of  that  of  Voltaire ;  but,  wholly  engrossed  with  individual  liberty, 
they  did  not  feel  the  necessity  of  solemnly  linking  society  with  God. 
One  of  them,  Louvet,  said  that  God  had  no  need  of  being  recognized 
by  the  National  Convention  of  France.  God,  indeed,  has  no  need  of 
us,  but  that  does  not  prove  that  we  have  no  need  of  him.  The  Dec- 
laration of  Rights  adopted  June  23  restored  the  formula  of  1789  :  — 

"  The  French  people  proclaims,  in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  the  following  Declaration,"  etc. 


452  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

M.  Michelet  observes  that  instead  of  "in  the  presence  of  the 
Supreme  Being,"  a  term  somewhat  vague,  it  would  have  been  better 
to  say,  "  in  the  presence  of  the  just  God,"  or  "  in  the  presence  of 
the  Eternal  Justice,"  thus  associating  with  the  idea  of  God  the 
principle  of  the  Eevolution,  the  idea  of  justice,  which  is  the  foun- 
dation of  modern  society. 

Upon  one  other  point  the  Declaration  of  Eights  adopted  by  the 
Mountain  was  inferior  to  Condorcet's  draft :  in  its  definition  of  the 
rights  of  man  it  placed  equality  before  liberty.  This  is  opposed  to 
Condorcet's  idea  and  to  the  great  motto  of  the  Eevolution:  "Lib- 
erty, Equality,  Fraternity." 

The  Mountain  Constitution  gave  fewer  guaranties  of  liberty  than 
that  of  the  Girondists;  but  it  was  more  practical,  and  in  some 
respects  more  democratic.  It  decreed  that  the  laws  should  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  vote  of  the  people,  but  added,  that  if  at  the  end  of 
forty  days  one  tenth  of  the  primary  assemblies  in  half  of  the  depart- 
ments plus  one  had  not  objected,  the  law  passed  by  the  National 
Assembly  should  stand. 

The  primary  assemblies  were  not  likely  to  object  often. 

To  the  definition  of  liberty  given  by  the  Girondists  the  Mountain 
added,  "  Justice  is  the  rule  of  liberty." 

Eobespierre  opposed  the  liberty  of  public  worship,  but  showed 
himself  much  more  liberal  with  respect  to  decentralization.  "  Give 
individuals  and  families  the  right,"  said  he,  "  to  do  anything  that 
does  not  injure  their  neighbors.  Give  the  communes  the  right  to 
manage  their  own  affairs  in  everything  that  does  not  pertain  to  the 
general  administration  of  the  Eepublic.  Leave  to  individual  liberty 
whatever  does  not  essentially  belong  to  public  liberty."  These 
were  precisely  the  maxims  of  the  Girondists,  whom  Eobespierre 
persecuted  with  such  fury. 

A  member  of  the  Convention,  referring  to  a  discussion  which  had 
taken  place  in  the  Constituent  Assembly,  had  proposed  that  the 
word  Duties  should  be  added  to  the  word  Rights  in  the  Declaration. 
Eobespierre  procured  the  rejection  of  the  motion,  "  inasmuch,"  he 
said,  "  as  duties  naturally  resulted  from  rights." 


1793.]  THE  CONVENTION.  453 

This  was  a  grave  inconsistency  in  a  man  who  was  always  talking 
about  virtue.  It  is  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  both  rights  and 
duties  have  their  origin  in  the  nature  of  man. 

The  discussion  of  the  articles  of  the  Constitution  upon  foreign 
relations  gave  rise  to  a  noble  saying,  which  has  become  famous  in 
history.  The  following  article  had  been  proposed:  "The  French 
people  does  not  make  peace  with  an  enemy  occupying  its  territory." 
A  deputy  said,  "Have  you  made  a  treaty  with  victory?"  The 
Mountaineer  Bazire  exclaimed:  "We  have  made  a  compact  with 
death!" 

The  whole  Assembly  applauded,  and  the  article  was  adopted. 

At  Dan  ton's  suggestion,  the  Assembly,  at  once  prudent  and  in- 
trepid, reconsidered  its  bold  declaration  of  November,  1792,  which 
had  offered  the  aid  of  France  to  all  peoples  seeking  to  recover  their 
liberty.  It  declared  that  the  French  nation  was  the  friend  and 
natural  ally  of  free  peoples,  but  that  it  would  not  meddle  with  the 
government  of  other  nations  any  more  than  it  would  suffer  other 
nations  to  meddle  with  its  own.  The  Constitution  only  promised 
an  asylum  to  foreigners  who  were  banished  from  their  country  for 
the  cause  of  liberty.  By  thus  qualifying  the  declaration  dictated 
by  early  enthusiasm,  the  Convention  aimed  to  render  peace  a  pos- 
sibility. 

A  civic  festival  was  held  June  24  in  the  Champs  ^lysees  and  the 
Champs  de  Mars  in  honor  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  On 
the  26th  the  Convention  voted  an  address  to  the  French  people, 
calling  on  them  to  rally  around  the  Republic  as  a  nucleus.  This 
address  produced  a  great  impression  in  the  departments.  The  nation 
thought  itself  saved  now  that  it  had  a  constitution.  "  The  people 
see  therein  the  end  of  their  calamities,"  wrote  Carnot. 

The  adoption  of  the  Constitution  atoned,  in  the  eyes  of  many, 
for  the  2d  of  June,  and  deceived  them  concerning  the  real  state 
of  affairs;  they  fancied  themselves  at  last  under  the  reign  of 
the  law.  This  law  never  reigned.  The  Constitution  of  1793  was 
inoperative :  accepted  gradually  by  the  great  majority  of  France, 
it  was  superseded  by  the  revolutionary  government,  that  is,  by  the 


454  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

dictatorship ;  and  when  the  people  attempted  to  throw  off  the  latter, 
they  did  not  enforce  the  Constitution  of  1793,  but  made  another  in 
its  stead. 

The  vote  upon  the  Constitution  was  followed  by  measures  against 
the  dissenting  local  governments.  A  decree  of  June  26  gave  the 
rebel  governors  and  office-holders  three  days  in  which  to  submit. 

The  Convention  also  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  law 
citizens  who  had  been  arrested  by  the  dissenters  at  Lyons,  Mar- 
seilles, and  other  southern  towns.  At  Lyons  and  Marseilles  the 
insurgents  had  established  revolutionary  tribunals  against  the  rev- 
olutionists. The  blood  of  the  Jacobins  flowed  upon  the  scaffold  at 
Marseilles,  and  their  leaders  were  frenziedly  pursued  at  Lyons. 

Those  of  the  accused  deputies  who  had  been  unwilling  to  leave 
Paris  bore  the  penalty  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  departments. 
Vergniaud  and  his  friends  were  deprived  of  the  partial  liberty  which 
had  at  first  been  allowed  them,  and  were  confined  in  houses  of 
detention.  Ducos,  supported  by  the  Right,  having  protested  in 
their  behalf,  Robespierre  made  an  angry  reply,  treating  the  Right  as 
rebels  and  accomplices  of  La  Vendee. 

The  Vende'an  revolt  was  at  that  time  more  menacing  than  ever, 
having  extended  north  of  the  Loire.  It  was  no  longer  a  mere  insur- 
rection of  the  peasants,  but  a  sort  of  counter-revolutionary  govern- 
ment, having,  side  by  side  with  its  military  leaders,  a  "superior 
council "  of  priests  and  legislators.  The  Convention  had  made  a  last 
effort  to  disarm  the  insurgents  by  an  eloquent  proclamation,  remind- 
ing these  misguided  men  of  all  the  Revolution  had  done  for  the  coun- 
try people,  and  renewing  the  assurance,  so  often  repeated,  that  the 
constituted  authorities  sought  to  interfere  neither  with  their  faith 
nor  with  the  rites  of  their  worship  (May  23).  The  superior  council 
of  La  Vende'e  replied  by  a  decree  of  proscription  against  all  repub- 
lican functionaries  and  their  families.  All  in  La  Vendee  who  did 
not  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  King  Louis  XVII.  (the  child  shut  up 
in  the  Temple)  were  to  be  imprisoned.  Whoever  did  not  take  arms 
"  for  religion  and  the  king "  was  to  be  taxed  in  proportion  to  his 
disloyalty.  The  council  declared  the  sale  of  the  national  estates 


1793.]  DEPARTMENTAL  RESISTANCE.  455 

null  and  void,  forbade  the  celebration  of  the  Protestant  worship,  and 
decreed  the  manufacture  of  false  assignats.  Certain  military  leaders, 
like  Charette,  went  so  far  as  to  force  men  to  join  their  ranks  under 
penalty  of  death. 

Saumur  being  taken,  before  engaging  in  great  defensive  opera- 
tions the  Vendean  leaders  elected  a  generalissimo.  They  had  the 
good  sense  to  choose,  not  a  gentleman,  but  a  peasant,  Cathelineau, 
who  was  revered  by  the  insurgents  as  a  saint.  Modest  and  simple, 
he  allowed  himself  to  be  led  by  those  who  understood  war  better 
than  himself.  Their  plan  was  to  attack  Nantes,  in  order  to  insure 
communication  with  the  sea  and  with  England,  and  to  revive  the 
Breton  insurrection. 

The  chiefs  of  the  great  Vendean  army  acted  in  concert  with 
Charette  and  his  Marais  men,  who  were  accustomed  to  form  sep- 
arate bands.  Charette  had  returned  to  Machecoul,  where  the  Nan- 
tais  had  been  unable  to  maintain  themselves.  The  Marais  soldiers 
joyfully  welcomed  the  proposition  to  go  to  Nantes,  and  provided 
themselves  with  sacks  for  the  pillage  of  the  rich  city  which  they 
hated  and  envied. 

It  was  a  more  difficult  matter  to  persuade  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Bocage,  who  could  only  be  enticed  away  from  home  by  the  promise 
of  pay.  The  Bocage  leaders  left  their  garrison  at  Saumur,  and 
descended  the  right  bank  of  the  Loire  with  forty  thousand  men. 
June  17  they  entered  Angers,  evacuated  by  its  patriotic  inhabitants, 
who  had  not  been  prepared  to  defend  themselves.  From  Angers 
they  directed  .their  course  through  Ancenis  upon  Nantes,  joining 
Charette,  who  came  by  the  left  bank  of  the  Loire  with  twelve  thou- 
sand men. 

Nantes  was  defended  by  more  than  ten  thousand  soldiers  and 
national  guards ;  among  the  latter  were  four  companies  of  Parisian 
gunners ;  this  was  all  the  force  that  had  been  sent  from  Paris  in 
response  to  the  despairing  appeals  of  the  Nantais.  These  gunners, 
however,  who  were  as  skilful  as  they  were  brave,  compensated  for 
their  small  numbers  by  the  brilliancy  of  their  services.  Bouchotte, 
the  incompetent  minister  of  war,  surrounded,  like  his  predecessor 


456  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

Pache,  by  a  swarm  of  avaricious  and  incapable  intriguers,  had  not 
had  the  wisdom  to  do  anything  for  Nantes. 

The  Vendeans  had  no  doubt  of  success.  Their  friends  in  the  city 
kept  them  advised  of  everything  that  went  on  within,  and  they 
relied  for  success  upon  the  dissensions  of  the  republicans. 

The  Girondists  were  in  the  majority  at  Nantes,  and  on  receiving 
tidings  of  the  events  of  June  2,  the  local  government  of  the  Lower 
Loire  joined  the  coalition  of  the  Breton  and  Norman  departments. 
In  the  face  of  the  Vende'an  insurrection,  however,  it  retracted  its 
course,  perceiving  the  necessity  of  union  at  any  price.  At  the 
proposition  of  the  Mountain  Club  all  parties  held  a  fraternal  meet- 
ing in  the  Cathedral.  They  then  partook  of  a  civic  repast,  after 
which  they  set  to  work  upon  the  fortifications  (June  15). 

The  city  had  no  other  defence  than  its  old  palace  and  its  three 
rivers.  A  few  trenches  and  earthworks  were  hastily  constructed. 
General  Canclaux  and  two  representatives  who  were  on  a  mission  to 
Nantes  did  not  at  first  think  resistance  possible  ;  but  the  Girondist 
mayor,  Baco,  a  valiant  and  energetic  old  man,  and  the  popular  lead- 
ers, both  Girondists  and  Mountaineers,  wished  to  defend  the  city  to 
the  last  extremity.  They  prepared  to  fight,  and  Canclaux,  while 
doubting  the  result,  directed  the  preparations  like  a  skilful  soldier. 

The  Vendean  chiefs  planned  a  general  attack  on  the  night  of 
June  28-29.  Charette,  separated  from  the  town  by  two  rivers,  the 
Nantais  Sevre  and  the  Loire,  was  only  able  to  effect  a  diversion  by 
drawing  to  the  defence  of  the  Eousseau  bridge  the  Nantais  popula- 
tion, which  stood  in  great  dread  of  the  Marais  pillagers.  The  real 
assault  was  to  be  given  on  the  other  bank  of  the  Loire. 

Charette,  according  to  agreement,  began  the  cannonade  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning ;  but  long  hours  rolled  away  before  the  Ven- 
dean army  opened  fire  against  the  city  upon  the  other  bank.  In 
order  simultaneously  to  assail  the  different  points  around  the  city, 
it  was  necessary  for  the  Vendeans  to  occupy  the  crossing  of  the 
Erdre,  an  impetuous  river  which  flows  into  the  Loire  on  the  right 
bank,  as  the  Nantais  Sevre  does  on  the  left.  The  little  hamlet  of 
Nort,  four  or  five  leagues  from  Nantes,  commands  this  crossing. 


1793.]  DEPARTMENTAL  RESISTANCE.  457 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  28th  the  Vendeans  sent  to  this  place 
four  thousand  picked  men.  Nort  was  guarded  by  a  single  Nantais 
battalion;  but  this  force  had  a  hero  for  its  leader.  This  was  a 
member  of  the  Mountain  Club,  a  tinman  named  Meuris,  who  had 
lately  organized  those  Nantais  battalions  that  had  scoured  the 
insurgent  country  and  avenged  the  horrors  of  MachecouL 

Meuris,  with  the  help  of  the  inhabitants,  defended  Nort  the 
whole  night.  He  returned  to  Nantes  the  next  morning  with  his 
flag  and  forty  men  out  of  five  hundred.  The  battalion  was  anni- 
hilated, but  the  great  nocturnal  assault  of  the  enemy  had  failed. 
The  attack  by  the  north  bank  could  not  begin  until  from  eight  to 
ten  in  the  morning. 

The  general  and  the  representatives  had  resumed  the  idea  of 
evacuation.  The  populace  cut  the  traces  of  the  horses  and  unhar- 
nessed the  carriages.  Before  this  resistance  of  the  Nantais  Canclaux 
yielded  and  did  his  duty.  The  conflict  was  long,  fierce,  and  mur- 
derous. The  brave  Mayor  Baco  continued  to  encourage  the  com- 
batants with  his  sonorous  voice,  as  he  was  borne  covered  with  blood 
and  wounds  from  the  battle-field. 

The  principal  attack  led  by  Cathelineau  on  the  Eennes  side  was 
repulsed  by  the  republican  artillery,  and  here  the  Paris  gunners 
particularly  distinguished  themselves.  Cathelineau  then  made  a 
bold  venture ;  he  took  with  him  his  devoted  friends,  comrades  from 
his  native  village  and  its  environs,  and  penetrated  undiscovered 
through  gardens  and  narrow  lanes  into  the  interior  of  the  city. 
As  they  were  entering  the  Place  Viarme  a  shot  was  fired  from 
an  attic  by  a  cobbler;  Cathelineau  fell,  mortally  wounded.  At  this 
news  the  attack  ceased ;  the  great  Vend^an  army  was  struck  with 
discouragement,  and  its  leaders  were  obliged  to  order  a  retreat 
They  evacuated  the  whole  region  north  of  the  Loire,  and  afterwards 
Saumur,  being  unable  to  keep  the  Bocage  men  any  longer  from 
their  homes. 

The  defence  of  Nantes  was  one  of  the  great  events  of  the  Revo- 
lution. The  saving  of  Nantes  saved  the  whole  West,  and  perhaps 
France.  La  Vendee  might  still  do  much  harm,  but  it  could  not 


458  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

conquer.  The  efforts  made  by  the  superior  council  of  the  Vendeans 
to  transform  the  wholly  spontaneous  and  popular  character  of  the 
insurrection  into  a  regular  armed  movement  failed,  and  were  des- 
tined always  to  prove  a  failure. 

July  8  Saint-Just  presented  to  the  Convention,  in  the  name  of 
the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  the  report  concerning  the  thirty- 
two  arrested  deputies  that  had  been  so  often  demanded.  It  called 
Brissot  a  monster ;  charged  the  deputies  with  being  the  authors  of  a 
conspiracy  for  the  restoration  of  royalty ;  proposed  that  Buzot,  Bar- 
baroux,  Lanjuinais,  and  all  the  representatives  who  by  flight  had 
evaded  the  decree  of  arrest,  should  be  declared  traitors  to  the  coun- 
try, and  demanded  the  indictment  of  Vergniaud,  Guadet,  Gensonne", 
and  Biroteau,  and  the  recall  to  the  Convention  of  other  prisoners 
who  had  been  "rather  misled  than  guilty." 

It  was  Eobespierre  who  spoke  through  the  voice  of  the  commit- 
tee; for  Kobespierre,  Saint-Just,  and  Couthon  were  but  one.  It 
was  Eobespierre's  policy  to  limit  the  persecution  to  the  Girondist 
leaders,  and  to  pursue  them  to  the  death  while  sparing  the  others. 

The  great  thinker  of  the  Gironde,  Condorcet,  had  not  hitherto 
been  included  in  the  persecutions  directed  against  the  orators  of  the 
Girondist  party;  he  did  not  share  their  passions,  but  was  among 
those  who  had  desired  a  reconciliation  with  Danton  and  the 
Mountain.  The  events  of  June  2,  however,  aroused  him  from  his 
philosophic  tranquillity.  He  wrote  to  the  administrators  of  his 
department  (the  Aisne),  urging  them  to  resistance,  and  published  an 
article  against  the  constitution  which  the  Mountain  had  substituted 
for  that  of  which  he  had  been  the  author.  Denounced  by  Chabot, 
a  cynical  and  vulgar  ex-capuchin,  who  had  only  the  declamatory 
violence  without  the  courage  of  the  Mountaineers,  Condorcet  was 
in  turn  condemned  to  arrest.  He  concealed  himself  in  Paris  for 
several  months.  We  shall  meet  him  again  among  the  illustrious 
victims  who  disappeared  from  the  world  before  the  end  of  this  ter- 
rible year. 

The  reactionary  movement  against  the  Mountain,  which  in  June 
had  seemed  about  to  carry  with  it  the  great  majority  of  France,  lost 


1793.]  DEPARTMENTAL  RESISTANCE.  459 

much  ground  in  July.     It  increased  in  violence  at  Lyons  and  in 
Provence,  but  diminished  in  the  West 

Bordeaux  threatened  loudly,  but  it  was  far  distant,  and  the  flower 
of  its  national  guard  was  busy  in  La  Vendee.  The  large  Breton 
towns  had  also  made  hostile  demonstrations:  three  battalions  of 
volunteers  had  set  out  for  Normandy;  but  the  Breton  movement 
stopped  there.  The  moderate  republicans  justly  felt  that  the  real 
enemy  was  the  counter-revolution,  —  La  Vende'e  at  the  gates  of 
Nantes. 

The  same  feeling  cooled  the  ardor  of  the  moderate  patriots  of 
Normandy.  The  Normans  talked  a  great  deal,  but  did  very 
little.  The  Girondist  deputies  at  Caen  did  nothing  worthy  of 
comparison  with  the  noble  character  and  moral  authority  of  Buzot, 
the  former  insurrectionary  ardor  of  Barbaroux,  or  the  indomitable 
energy  of  Lanjuinais.  They  certainly  did  not  lack  courage;  but, 
whether  they  confessed  it  or  not,  La  Vendee  paralyzed  them.  They 
could  not  serve  it  as  an  advance  guard. 

The  Lower  Seine  had  not  imitated  the  resistance  of  L'Eure  and 
Le  Calvados.  L'Orne  and  La  Manche  hesitated.  The  delegates 
from  the  five  departments  of  Brittany,  in  concert  with  those  from 
Le  Calvados  and  Mayenne,  had  organized  themselves  at  Caen  on  the 
30th  of  June  into  "  a  central  assembly  for  resistance  to  oppression." 
There  was  no  more  union  or  activity  among  them  on  this  account 
The  old  Feuillant  or  royalist-constitutional  party,  still  numerous  in 
Normandy,  found  the  Girondists  too  republican  to  suit  its  views. 
The  Girondist  party  grew  weaker,  possessing  nowhere  a  firm  hand, 
a  well-conceived  plan,  or  earnest  faith  in  success.  Many  who  would 
not  have  recoiled  before  danger  were  troubled  in  conscience,  and 
dreaded  destroying  their  country. 

Those  who  had  fancied  that  all  France  with  a  swift  impulse 
would  rush  to  Paris,  to  restore  the  reign  of  law  and  deliver  rather 
than  fight  the  Parisians,  were  stricken  with  grief  and  indignation ; 
and  these  feelings  took  deepest  root  in  a  few  impassioned  or 
stoic  souls,  who  in  this  new  phase  of  the  Revolution  saw  only 
humanity  outraged  by  the  triumph  of  "  Maratism,"  law  violated  by 


460  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

the  victorious  riot  of  June  2,  and  the  sacred  ideal  of  the  Bepublic 
polluted  by  unworthy  tribunes. 

There  lived  at  Caen  a  young  girl  of  great  beauty,  by  the  name  of 
Marie  Charlotte  de  Corday,  who  belonged,  on  her  father's  side,  to 
the  poor  nobility.  On  the  mother's  side  she  had  a  more  illustrious 
origin,  descending  in  a  direct  line  from  the  great  Corneille.  Her 
father,  whose  opinions  were  liberal,  had  not  emigrated;  her  two 
brothers  were  in  Conde's  army.  Charlotte  herself  was  a  republican. 
With  much  grace  and  delicacy  of  mind,  she  was  at  once  reasoning 
and  impassioned,  like  the  heroines  of  her  grandfather's  tragedies. 
Having  lost  her  mother  in  early  infancy,  she  had  known  little  of 
family  life,  and  had  in  some  sort  reared  herself. 

At  the  Caen  Abbaye  aux  Dames,  where  she  had  been  a  boarding- 
pupil  before  1789,  as  well  as  in  society,  she  had  lived  alone  in 
thought  with  the  heroes  of  Corneille  and  Plutarch,  and  with  the 
modern  philosophers,  especially  Eousseau.  But  in  Rousseau,  as  in 
her  ancestor  Corneille,  it  was  the  inspiration  of  the  ancients  that  at- 
tracted her  and  aroused  her  enthusiasm.  Belonging  far  less  to  her 
century  than  Madame  Roland,  Charlotte  was  a  daughter  of  Athens 
and  Rome  rather  than  of  Paris.  Sensitive,  loving,  and  beloved,  she 
had,  nevertheless,  attained  her  twenty-fifth  year  without  letting  her 
heart  be  swayed  by  personal  feelings ;  neither  her  friendship  for  a 
few  young  girls  of  her  own  age,  nor  her  affectionate  sympathy  for  a 
companion  of  her  childhood,  a  young  man  who  adored  her,  held  the 
first  place  in  her  self-centred  soul.  Private  affections  counted  little 
with  her  in  comparison  with  the  sufferings  of  her  country.  She  felt 
that  she  belonged  first  of  all  to  France,  —  to  the  Republic. 

Charlotte  had  seen  events  in  Paris  through  the  stories  which  in 
the  country  had  long  made  Marat  the  personification  of  all  the 
acts  of  violence  and  excesses  of  the  Revolution.  To  the  provincials, 
he  was  the  tyrant ;  a  most  natural  idea  in  the  eyes  of  those  who 
connected  his  demands  for  blood  with  his  persistent  clamors  for  a 
dictator.  At  a  distance  his  incapacity  for  such  a  part  was  not 
appreciated,  nor  was  it  understood  that  if  France  was  menaced 
with  any  dictator  it  was  Robespierre. 


1793.]  CHARLOTTE  CORDAY.  461 

Charlotte  asked  herself  what  those  ancients  would  have  done, 
who  were  her  models ;  and  decided  that  since  men  would  not  free 
the  country  from  the  tyrant,  it  behooved  a  woman  to  do  so  in  their 
stead.  She  resolved  on  her  course,  asked  her  father's  benediction 
without  confiding  her  design  to  him  or  to  any  one,  and  set  out  on 
her  errand. 

She  reached  Paris  on  the  llth  of  July.  The  next  day  she  bought 
a  knife  at  the  Palais-Eoyal  She  had  at  first  determined  to  stab 
Marat  either  at  the  Champs  de  Mars  during  the  fete  of  July  14, 
as  Cinna  in  the  tragedy  stabbed  the  tyrant  at  the  capitol,  or  else 
on  the  benches  of  the  Convention,  at  the  very  place  where  Marat 
had  presided  over  the  violation  of  the  national  representation.  The 
fete  having  been  postponed  to  August  10,  and  Marat  remaining  at 
home  on  account  of  illness,  she  asked  an  interview  through  a  letter, 
in  which  she  said  that  she  had  come  from  Caen,  and  wished  to  tell 
him  of  "  the  plots  that  were  meditated  there  against  him." 

About  seven  in  the  evening  of  July  13  Charlotte  presented  her- 
self at  Marat's  house.  He  lived  in  the  Eue-des-Cordeliers,  now 
the  Eue-de  1'ficole-de-Medecine.  Marat  was  in  his  bath  A  woman 
who  lived  with  him  attempted  to  prevent  Charlotte's  entrance. 
Marat  heard  their  dispute,  and  called  the  stranger  in.  He  asked 
what  news  she  brought  from  Normandy,  and  took  down  in  writ- 
ing the  names  of  the  deputies  who  had  sought  refuge  at  Caen. 
"In  a  few  days,"  said  he,  "I  will  have  them  all  guillotined  in 
Paris." 

Charlotte's  last  hesitation  vanished.  She  drew  the  knife  from 
under  her  kerchief  and  buried  it  in  Marat's  heart  with  a  steady 
hand.  He  uttered  but  one  cry,  "  Help  me,  dear ! "  and  expired. 

The  woman  who  lived  with  Marat  darted  shrieking  into  the 
chamber,  followed  first  by  a  delegate,  who  struck  Charlotte  with  a 
chair,  and  then  by  a  shuddering,  vociferous  throng  of  neighbors 
and  curious  spectators. 

The  national  guards  saved  Charlotte.  She  replied  calmly  and 
deliberately  to  the  police  officers  and  the  four  deputies  sent  by 
the  Convention.  "  I  wished  to  put  a  stop  to  the  civil  war,  and  to 


462  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

offer  up  my  life  for  the  good  of  my  country I  have  no 

accomplices." 

An  "  Address  to  Frenchmen,  friends  of  law  and  peace,"  was  found 
upon  her  person.  "  Frenchmen,  arise  ! "  said  the  document.  "  March 
on !  Let  the  annihilated  Mountain  leave  naught  but  brothers  and 
friends !  I  do  not  violate  the  law  in  attacking  Marat ;  he  is  out- 
lawed. I  shall  not  kill  myself;  I  wish  my  last  sigh  to  be  useful 
to  my  fellow-citizens.  May  my  head,  borne  through  Paris,  be  a 
rallying-sign  for  all  friends  of  the  law  ! " 

And  she  quoted  these  lines,  which  Voltaire  in  his  tragedy,  "  The 
Death  of  Caesar,"  puts  in  the  mouth  of  Brutus :  — 

"  Qu'a  1'univers  surpris,  cette  grand  action, 
Soit  un  objet  d'horreur  ou  d' admiration, 
Mon  esprit,  peu  jaloux  de  vivre  en  la  memoire, 
Ne  cousidere  pas  le  reproche  ou  la  gloire ; 
Toujours  independant  et  toujours  citoyen, 
Mon  devoir  me  suffit ;  tout  le  reste  n'est  rien. 
Allez,  ne  songez  plus  qu'a  sortir  d'esclavage  ! "  * 

One  thing  alone  seemed  to  grieve  Charlotte ;  the  despair  of  the 
woman  who  had  been  attached  to  Marat.  Something  else  aston- 
ished her ;  the  ease  with  which  the  mob,  that  had  been  ready  to 
tear  her  in  pieces  during  the  journey  from  Marat's  house  to  the 
Abbaye,  was  appeased  by  the  voice  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people  and  at  the  mention  of  the  law.  She  remarked  that  her  Caen 
compatriots  were  not  so  docile  in  their  riots. 

Two  days  after  she  wrote  from  the  Abbaye  a  letter  addressed 
to  Barbaroux,  designed  for  him  and  his  friends,  and  dated,  "The 
second  day  of  the  Preparation  for  Peace." 

This  idea,  that  she  had  prepared  the  way  for  peace  by  killing 
Marat,  was  the  only  allusion  to  grave  matters  in  Charlotte's  letter, 
which  described  her  journey,  and  made  comments  upon  men  and 

*  "Whether  this  great  action  be  to  the  surprised  universe  an  object  of  horror  or  of 
admiration,  my  mind,  having  little  desire  to  live  in  the  world's  memory,  cares  neither 
for  reproach  nor  glory.  Always  independent,  and  always  a  citizen,  I  only  seek  to  do 
my  duty ;  all  else  is  nothing  to  me.  Come,  dream  no  longer  of  aught  save  escaping 
from  slavery ! " 


1793.]  CHARLOTTE  CORD  AY.  463 

things  in  Paris  with  a  freedom  of  mind,  a  delicacy  and  a  playful 
grace,  which  were  most  extraordinary  in  such  a  situation.  The  fact 
of  her  having  written  to  Barbaroux  has  led  to  the  wholly  unfounded 
supposition  that  she  was  in  love  with  him.  The  letter  itself  proves 
the  contrary. 

The  next  day  Charlotte  underwent  a  preliminary  examination 
before  the  president  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal.  That  evening 
she  was  transferred  to  the  Conciergerie.  There  she  finished  her 
letter,  which  had  been  interrupted  the  night  before.  Thenceforth 
its  tone  changed.  With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  ironical 
touches,  she  grew  grave  in  the  presence  of  approaching  death.  "To- 
morrow, at  eight,  they  are  to  pass  sentence  on  me;  at  noon  I 
shall  have  lived,  to  speak  after  the  Roman  fashion.  I  am  wholly 
ignorant  as  to  how  these  last  moments  will  be  passed.  It  is  the 
end  which  crowns  the  deed.  Up  to  this  instant  I  have  not  felt 
the  slightest  fear." 

Simple  and  true  to  the  last  moment,  she  did  not  boast  beforehand 
of  being  without  fear  at  the  supreme  hour.  She  charged  Barbaroux 
with  her  adieux  for  her  friends,  and  bequeathed  the  care  of  her 
memory  to  the  true  friends  of  peace.  "  Do  not  regret  my  loss,"  she 
said ;  "  for  a  warm  imagination  and  a  tender  heart  promise  only  a 
stormy  life  to  those  who  are  endowed  with  them." 

Among  her  friends,  she  designated  one  with  particular  solicitude. 
"  I  fear,"  said  she,  "  that  he  will  grieve  at  my  death ! "  This  was 
the  companion  of  her  childhood  to  whom  we  have  alluded,  the 
young  procureur-syndic  of  Le  Calvados,  Bougon-Longrais. 

She  afterward  wrote  to  her  father :  "  Pardon  me,  my  dear  papa, 
for  having  disposed  of  my  life  without  your  permission.  I  have 
avenged  many  innocent  victims  and  prevented  many  disasters.  The 
people  will  one  day  acknowledge  the  service  I  have  rendered  my 
country.  Farewell,  my  beloved  father!  Forget  me,  or  rather  re- 
joice at  my  fate.  I  die  in  a  noble  cause.  Embrace  for  me  my 
sister,  whom  I  love  with  all  my  heart.  Never  forget  the  words 
of  Corneille :  '  It  is  the  crime  that  makes  the  disgrace,  and  not 
the  scaffold.'" 


464  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

July  17  she  appeared  before  the  tribunal.  The  president  ap- 
pointed as  her  counsel  a  young  lawyer  named  Chauveau-Lagarde. 

"  When  she  appeared  in  the  auditorium,"  wrote  her  defender  at 
a  later  day,  "all — judges,  jurors,  and  spectators  —  seemed  to  look 
upon  her  as  a  judge  who  had  summoned  them  before  the  tribunal 
of  God.  Her  features  may  be  painted  and  her  words  repeated,  but 
no  art  can  portray  the  noble  soul  that  breathed  through  her  whole 
countenance." 

Her  examination  recalls  the  dialogues  of  Corneille's  heroes,  which 
seem  an  exchange  of  thunderbolts. 

"  What  induced  you  to  assassinate  Marat  ? " 

"  His  crimes." 

"  What  did  you  hope  to  gain  by  killing  him  ? " 

"  To  restore  peace  to  my  country." 

"  But  do  you  think  you  have  killed  all  the  Marats  ? " 

"No;  but,  he  being  dead,  the  others  may  be  struck  with  ter- 
ror." 

After  hearing  the  evidence  of  the  witnesses  against  her,  the  pres- 
ident asked :  "  What  have  you  to  say  in  reply  to  all  this  ? " 

"  Nothing,"  she  said,  "  except  that  I  have  succeeded." 

The  president,  Montane,  would  have  gladly  saved  her.  In  one 
of  the  questions  he  had  to  ask  the  jurors,  "  Has  she  acted  with  pre- 
meditation and  criminal  intent  ? "  he  omitted  the  last  words.  His 
humanity  caused  his  indictment  three  days  after. 

He  suggested  to  her  counsel  that  he  might  plead  her  insanity. 
The  advocate  looked  at  her,  and  comprehended  that  she  neither 
could  nor  would  be  saved  in  this  manner.  He  replied  that  the 
accused  confessed  in  cold  blood  that  the  deed  had  been  one  of 
long  premeditation.  "  This  composure  and  abnegation,  so  sublime 
in  some  respects,"  said  he,  "  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  most 
exalted  political  fanaticism." 

The  inevitable  death-sentence  was  pronounced. 

Charlotte  heard  it  with  serenity,  thanked  Chauveau-Lagarde  for 
having  nobly  defended  her,  gently  refused  a  priest  who  offered  her 
his  ministrations,  and  gave  the  last  moments  which  were  left  her 


1793.]  CHARLOTTE  CORDAY.  465 

to  a  painter  named  Hauer,  who  had  begun  her  portrait  during  the 
examination.  This  portrait  is  now  in  the  Museum  at  Versailles. 
Hauer  has  preserved  to  posterity  the  faithful  image  of  that  mar- 
vellous beauty  which  is  the  perfection  of  the  Norman  type,  softened 
and  idealized.  Her  oval  face,  with  imposing  yet  delicate  features, 
is  framed  in  a  wealth  of  magnificent  blond  tresses.  Her  large  eyes 
with  their  long  lashes  are  slightly  veiled  by  a  sadness  arising  less 
perhaps  from  the  knowledge  that  she  was  about  to  die  than  from 
that  of  having  herself  inflicted  death. 

The  same  evening,  in  the  midst  of  a  terrific  storm,  she  was  con- 
ducted to  the  scaffold.  The  red  chemise  with  which  assassins  were 
then  clothed  lent  a  strange  aspect  to  her  radiant  face.  Amid  the 
yells  and  imprecations  of  those  bands  of  women  who  were  fitly 
styled  the  "  furies  of  the  guillotine,"  Charlotte  remained  impassible. 
"  Immortality  beamed  from  her  eyes,"  says  a  contemporary  narra- 
tive. The  cries  ceased.  The  rabble,  whom  her  enemies  had  tried 
to  excite  against  her,  appeared  seized  with  deep  emotion  as  she 
passed.  Charlotte  did  not  falter  for  an  instant ;  she  turned  slightly 
pale  at  the  sight  of  the  instrument  of  death,  but  her  fine  color 
quickly  returned;  she  mounted  the  steps  to  the  scaffold  without 
assistance  and  saluted  the  people,  but  was  not  allowed  to  speak. 
She  then  surrendered  herself  of  her  own  accord  to  the  murderous 
machine.  The  fatal  knife  fell,  and  severed  the  fairest  head  in 
France. 

All  who  witnessed  the  last  moments  of  Charlotte  retained  an 
ineffaceable  impression  of  them.  Andre  Chenier,  the  great  poet,  who 
was  soon  to  perish,  in  his  turn,  upon  the  revolutionary  scaffold, 
celebrated  Charlotte  and  her  deed  in  verses  worthy  of  Corneille. 

There  was  another  who  did  still  more ;  he  longed  to  die  for  her, 
and  to  follow  her  into  the  other  world.  This  was  a  young  Mayen- 
c,ais  named  Adam  Lux;  one  of  those  deputies  from  the  Ehenish 
Convention  who  had  come  to  demand  the  annexation  of  the  left 
bank  of  the  Ehine  to  France.  He  published  a  pamphlet,  in  which 
he  asked  Charlotte's  executioners  to  honor  him  with  their  guillotine, 
in  his  eyes  more  glorious  than  an  altar.  He  demanded  that  France 
30 


466  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

should  raise  a  statue  to  Charlotte,  with  the  inscription :  "  Greater 
than  Brutus." 

His  request  was  granted ;  he  died  like  her  and  for  her. 

Another  victim,  before  mounting  the  scaffold  some  months  after, 
as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Norman  insurrection,  declared  that  he 
had  survived  Charlotte  only  in  the  hope  of  avenging  her.  This  was 
Bougon-Longrais,  her  lifelong  friend. 

Charlotte  has  effaced  from  modern  imaginations  the  ancient  slay- 
ers of  tyrants,  the  Brutuses  and  the  Harmodii.  Her  memory  has 
retained  an  imperishable  lustre.  The  sympathy  inspired  by  her 
fate  is  natural  and  universal.  The  popularity  of  her  name,  how- 
ever, has  not  been  salutary ;  it  has  led  away  many  ardent  minds, 
and  incited  more  than  one  deed  worse  than  her  own. 

In  principle,  an  individual  has  no  right  over  the  life  of  a  great 
criminal.  Tyrannicide  is  allowable  only  in  case  of  legitimate  self- 
defence  or  as  an  act  of  war.  In  fact,  he  who  arrogates  to  himself 
this  right  knows  not  what  he  does,  and  cannot  foresee  the  conse- 
quences of  his  act.  Charlotte  Corday  believed  that  she  had  restored 
peace  to  France ;  on  the  contrary,  she  contributed  to  let  loose  the 
Eeign  of  Terror. 

Marat  had  done  all  the  evil  he  could  do.  The  2d  of  June,  when 
he  played  for  a  moment  the  part  of  a  dictator,  seemed  to  have  ex- 
hausted his  activity  in  evil-doing  and  to  have  finished  his  career.  His 
influence  had  declined  instead  of  increasing.  Ill  and  worn-out  by  four 
years  of  continued  and  feverish  fits  of  rage,  he  no  longer  appeared 
at  the  Convention.  His  fury  was  intermittent,  and  it  is  probable 
that  it  would  soon  have  become  extinct  with  his  life.  It  is  thought 
that  if  he  had  lived  he  would  have  subsequently  defended  Danton 
against  Robespierre.  It  is  certain  that  nothing  was  gained  by  his 
death,  which  rendered  his  partisans  more  ferocious  and  implacable 
than  ever,  and  left  a  more  unbridled  career  to  his  rival  in  evil 
repute,  the  infamous  Hebert.  Marat  was  a  disinterested  fanatic; 
Hebert,  who,  after  Marat's  death,  usurped  a  sort  of  dictatorship  over 
the  popular  press,  by  persecuting  all  the  journals  which  were  in 
competition  with  his  own,  was  corruption  incarnate ;  he  served  as  a 


1793.]  CIVIL  WAR  AND  FOREIGN  WAR.  467 

rallying-point  for  all  the  vicious,  covetous,  and  basely  ambitious 
men  who  ruled  the  ministry  of  war  and  brought  discredit  on  the 
Revolution.  The  Hebertists  scarcely  dissimulated  their  joy  at  being 
rid  of  Marat,  while  the  clubs  and  the  sectional  committees  mani- 
fested a  theatrical  sorrow  at  his  death.  It  was  proposed  at  the 
Jacobin  Club  to  carry  his  remains  to  the  Pantheon.  Robespierre 
defeated  the  motion,  as  contrary  to  the  law  which  postpones  this 
honor  until  twenty  years  after  the  death  of  illustrious  men. 

Marat  was  interred,  July  16,  in  the  garden  of  the  Cordeliers,  near 
the  club  where  he  had  won  his  first  laurels  as  a  popular  orator.  The 
Convention  attended  his  funeral  in  a  body.  The  portrait  of  Marat 
painted  by  David,  which  represents  him  at  the  moment  when 
Charlotte  dealt  him  his  death-blow,  was  exhibited  in  the  court  of 
the  Louvre  with  extravagant  inscriptions. 

A  sort  of  worship  was  paid  Marat.  He  was  regarded  as  a  martyr, 
and  triumphal  arches  and  chapels  were  erected  to  his  memory. 
The  plan  which  Robespierre  had  defeated  was  carried  out  at  a  later 
day.  A  decree  of  November  14,  1793,  ordered  his  remains  to  be 
removed  to  the  Pantheon,  where  they  took  the  place  of  those  of 
Mirabeau. 

While  funeral  honors  were  rendered  to  Marat,  and  Charlotte  Cor- 
day  ascended  the  scaffold,  the  fate  of  the  Girondist  insurrection  was 
decided  in  the  West.  General  Wimpfen,  commanding  the  federate 
departments,  erred  in  his  military  plans.  Without  waiting  for  the 
three  battalions  which  were  on  their  way  from  Brittany  and  Maine 
to  Caen,  he  marched  with  a  small  corps  from  Evreux  upon  Vernon. 
A  league  from  Vernon  this  little  army  encountered  a  corps  of 
Parisian  volunteers,  gendarmes,  and  national  guards  from  Vernon 
and  its  environs.  There  were  not  three  thousand  men  on  either 
side,  but  the  importance  of  this  encounter  far  surpassed  that  of  the 
forces  engaged  (July  13). 

At  the  first  cannon-shot  fired  by  the  Mountain  forces,  the  Evreux 
national  guards,  who  had  not  intended  to  fight,  and  had  counted 
upon  fraternizing  with  the  Vernon  men,  deserted,  and  went  over  to 
them.  The  others  were  forced  to  beat  a  retreat.  The  next  day  the 


468  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

Federates  evacuated  Evreux,  and  the  municipality  at  once  submitted 
to  the  Convention. 

At  these  tidings  General  Wimpfen,  who  was  a  Feuillant  and  not 
a  Eepublican,  proposed  to  the  Girondist  deputies  to  treat  with  Eng- 
land. They  indignantly  refused.  The  Girondist  deputies  felt  that 
all  was  lost  in  Normandy.  The  local  administration  of  Calvados 
thought  of  nothing  but  redeeming  itself  by  a  prompt  submission, 
and  the  proscribed  representatives  saw  the  decree  of  the  Convention 
declaring  them  outlaws  posted  upon  the  door  of  the  ancient  direc- 
tory of  Caen  where  they  lodged. 

They  departed  with  the  Breton  battalions  which  were  returning 
to  their  country;  they  made  a  perilous  journey  across  Brittany, 
whose  primary  meetings  had  just  accepted  the  Constitution  of 
1793,  and  which  was  making  peace  with  the  Convention,  and  em- 
barked for  the  Gironde.  There  also,  in  the  cradle  of  their  great 
orators,  they  saw  everything  crumbling  before  them.  The  Bor- 
deaux committee  of  public  safety  had  vainly  attempted  to  organ- 
ize, with  the  Southwest  departments,  a  provincial  force  which 
might  march  upon  Paris. 

Bordeaux  for  some  weeks  refused  to  submit  to  the  four  repre- 
sentatives sent  with  a  few  troops  by  the  Convention.  Negotiations 
were  entered  into ;  there  was  no  fighting ;  the  people  of  Bordeaux 
were  weary  of  useless  resistance.  The  Mountain  triumphed,  and 
the  great  Girondist  city  yielded  about  the  middle  of  September. 
The  proscribed  representatives  were  compelled  to  seek  asylums 
which  did  not  protect  many  of  them  until  the  end.  We  shall 
hereafter  narrate  the  story  of  their  misfortunes  and  their  tragic 
deaths. 

The  whole  Girondist  West,  forced  to  choose  between,  the  Moun- 
tain and  La  Vende'e,  thus,  almost  without  conflict,  united  with  the 
Mountain  party.  It  was  not  the  same  in  the  East;  there  resist- 
ance was  carried  to  the  last  extremity.  At  Lyons  the  reaction, 
installed  into  power  after  the  bloody  combat  of  May  29,  furiously 
pursued  the  party  of  the  ancient  Jacobin  municipality.  A  munici- 
pal officer,  acquitted  by  the  tribunal  before  which  he  had  been 


1793.]  CIVIL  WAR  AND  FOREIGN"  WAR.  469 

brought,  was  assassinated  and  thrown  into  the  Seine  by  the  reac- 
tionists. 

July  4  a  committee  of  public  safety,  composed  of  delegates 
from  the  department  of  Ehone-et-Loire,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
representative  Biroteau,  who  had  escaped  from  Paris,  decided  that 
until  the  assemblage  of  a  free  and  complete  national  representation, 
the  decrees  issued  by  the  Convention  since  May  31  should  be  con- 
sidered null  and  void.  To  support  this  decision,  the  committee 
ordered  the  formation  of  a  departmental  army,  and  gave  its  com- 
mand to  a  former  officer  of  the  constitutional  guard  of  Louis  XVI., 
the  ex-Count  de  Preci.  The  Girondist  bourgeoisie  of  Lyons,  which 
wished  to  remain  republican,  was  drawn  further  and  further  into 
an  alliance  with  the  enemies  of  the  Eepublic.  Eoyalists  thrust 
themselves  into  all  the  civil  offices  as  well  as  into  the  military 
commands. 

The  Mountain  had  dealt  cautiously  with  Lyons  so  long  as  there 
remained  a  hope  of  gaining  this  great  city  by  pacific  means,  but  it 
responded  with  great  vigor  to  the  hostile  declaration  of  the  commis- 
sion of  the  Ehone-et-Loire.  The  Convention  declared  Biroteau  and 
all  the  members  of  the  departmental  commission  traitors  to  the 
country,  decreed  the  arrest  of  four  deputies  from  Ehone-et-Loire, 
instructed  the  ministry  to  send  soldiers  against  Lyons,  and  gave  the 
representatives  on  a  mission  to  the  army  of  the  Alps  full  power  to 
restore  order  in  that  city  (July  12).  The  Lyonnais  had  intercepted 
the  convoys  of  provisions  on  the  way  to  the  army  of  the  Alps.  The 
Convention  sentenced  to  death  those  who  should  retain  at  Lyons 
the  supplies  destined  for  the  armies  of  the  Eepublic.  The  insur- 
rectional commission  of  the  Ehone-et-Loire  flung  the  head  of  the 
leader  of  the  Lyonnais  Jacobins  to  the  Mountain,  as  a  bloody 
challenge.  This  was  a  Piedmontais  named  Chalier,  who  had  ar- 
dently devoted  himself  to  France  and  to  the  Eevolution.  He  was 
called  the  Lyonnais  Marat,  because  he  resembled  Marat  in  the 
insane  violence  of  his  language ;  but  this  was  his  only  point  of 
similarity  to  the  "  friend  of  the  people."  He  possessed  none  of 
Marat's  ferocious  vanity ;  never  was  there  any  one  who  thought  less 


470  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

about  himself.  A  man  of  wealth,  he  had  devoted  himself,  heart  and 
soul,  to  the  cause  of  the  poor  and  feeble.  The  sight  of  the  misery 
and  oppression  endured  by  the  Lyonnais  working-classes  had  roused 
him  to  furious  indignation.  He  rendered  them  ill  service  by  stir- 
ring up  a  war  of  classes  through  his  extravagant  words  and  writings, 
and  by  surrounding  himself  with  men  whose  rabid  exaggerations 
had  won  them  the  name  of  the  "  Madmen,"  and  who  were  not,  like 
him,  sincere  and  upright. 

He  was  arrested  after  the  conflict  of  May  29,  and  tried  at  Lyons 
in  violation  of  the  decree  which  referred  this  sort  of  cases  to 
the  revolutionary  tribunal  of  Paris.  Arbitrary  arrests,  sanguinary 
speeches,  and  murderous  projects  were  attributed  to  him,  yet  in  his 
writings  he  sometimes  himself  refuted  his  own  threats  and  clamors 
for  death.  In  one  of  his  articles  he  says :  "  Aristocrats  are  incor- 
rigible only  because  we  do  not  seek  to  reform  their  education ;  we 

talk  of  hanging  them,  of  guillotining  them This  is  horrible, 

....  we  must  not  throw  a  sick  man  out  of  the  window,  we 
must  cure  him."  His  enemies  resorted  to  a  detestable  method  of 
alienating  the  people  from  him  and  wringing  his  condemnation 
from  the  judges ;  they  forged  a  letter  from  a  pretended  emigrant  to 
Chalier,  urging  him  to  continue  to  shield  himself  under  the  veil  of 
patriotism,  in  order  the  better  to  serve  the  cause  of  royalty.  These 
men,  a  part  of  them  at  least,  were  themselves  guilty  of  the  crime 
they  imputed  to  Chalier,  and  were  secretly  corresponding  with 
emigrants  and  foreigners. 

The  plot  succeeded ;  the  deceived  populace  menaced  the  judges 
and  forced  them  to  condemn  him  (July  16).  On  being  remanded  to 
prison  after  his  sentence,  Chalier  said  to  a  friend :  "  My  death  will 

be  avenged  some  day Tell  my  avengers  to  spare  the  people, 

and  to  punish  only  those  who  have  led  them  astray." 

He  was  strongly  attached  to  life,  yet  he  met  his  death  bravely. 
Impetuous  and  changeable  in  his  impressions,  he  had  recently  torn 
a  picture  of  Christ  in  pieces  at  the  Jacobin  Club  at  Lyons,  calling 
him  "  the  tyrant  of  souls."  At  the  foot  of  the  scaffold  he  embraced 
the  crucifix.  His  hands  were  bound ;  he  said  to  the  executioner, 


1793.]  CIVIL  WAR  AND  FOREIGN  WAR,  471 

"  Pin  the  tricolored  cockade  over  my  heart !"  and  with  a  firm  tread 
he  mounted  the  steps  of  the  scaffold.  A  frightful  circumstance 
occurred.  The  executioner  was  a  novice,  and  the  knife,  which  was 
badly  hung,  fell  three  times  ere  it  finished  its  work ! 

Chalier's  housekeeper  and  another  woman,  an  Italian,  went  by 
night  to  the  cemetery  where  criminals  were  buried  after  execution, 
and  disinterred  his  mutilated  head,  which  was  moulded  in  plaster, 
and  carried  from  town  to  town  and  from  club  to  club. 

As  in  the  case  of  Marat,  Chalier  received  a  kind  of  adoration,  of 
which  his  life  and  his  death  rendered  him  less  unworthy.  The 
people  honored  his  memory,  but  they  did  not  remember  his  injunc- 
tions. His  execution  was  avenged  by  torrents  of  blood. 

At  the  moment  Chalier  mounted  the  scaffold  the  Eepublic  was 
exposed  to  the  greatest  perils  in  the  East  and  the  South.  The 
local  administrations  of  the  Ain,  of  Jura  and  Doubs,  sustained 
the  Ehone-et-Loire.  Although  Chambery  remained  highly  patri- 
otic, the  counter-revolutionary  reaction  had  gained  the  ascendency 
in  the  Savoy  Mountains.  Provence  and  a  great  portion  of  Lan- 
guedoc  were  in  full  insurrection.  The  Marseillais,  urged  on  by 
the  friends  of  Barbaroux,  among  whom  were  many  counter-revolu- 
tionists, had  drawn  along  with  them  the  other  Provencal  towns,  and 
occupied  Avignon.  They  sought  to  effect  a  junction  with  the  insur- 
gent forces  of  Gard,  Ardeche,  and  L'Herault,  that  they  might  all 
assist  the  Lyonnais.  The  royalists,  concealed  behind  the  Giron- 
dists, counted  upon  turning  this  movement  to  their  own  advantage. 
They  hoped  to  prevail  upon  the  insurrectionists  to  call  in  the  Pied- 
montese,  Spanish,  and  Austrian  forces,  and  finally  to  induce  the 
aristocratic  Swiss  cantons,  which  had  hitherto  remained  neutral,  to 
declare  themselves  against  the  Eepublic. 

Everything  depended  upon  the  action  of  the  departments  of 
ancient  Dauphiny,  especially  Isere.  The  departmental  administra- 
tion remained  faithful  to  Lyons,  and  for  a  time  drew  along  with 
it  the  municipality  and  sections  of  Grenoble,  which  once  in  in- 
surrection would  have  carried  all  before  them  from  the  Vosges  to 
the  Mediterranean. 


472  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

The  energy  of  Dubois-Crance",  one  of  the  representatives,  saved 
the  whole  East,  as  the  energy  of  the  Nantais  patriots  had  saved  the 
West.  He  struggled  obstinately  against  the  organized  bodies  of 
the  department  and  its  chief  city,  demonstrated  to  the  people  of 
Grenoble  that  they  would  ruin  the  Eepublic,  and  won  back  this 
resolute  and  sensible  population.  The  administrations  were  changed ; 
Grenoble,  Isere,  and  La  Drome  rallied  around  Dubois-Crance,  and 
closed  the  passage  between  Lyons  and  Provence.  General  Car- 
teaux,  sent  by  Dubois-Cranc£  with  a  small  corps  from  the  army 
of  the  Alps,  drove  the  Marseillais  from  Avignon,  and  cut  off  their 
communications  with  the  Languedoc  insurgents  by  taking  posses- 
sion of  Beaucaire.  The  insurrection  languished  in  Languedoc. 

Dauphiny,  which  had  begun  the  Eevolution  with  its  celebrated 
orator,  Mounier,  and  afterwards  repudiated  him  when  he  abandoned 
it,  now  saved  it  perhaps  by  the  clear-sightedness  with  which  it 
decided  in  favor  of  national  unity  at  any  price,  although  at  heart 
it  preferred  the  Gironde  to  the  Mountain.  At  the  north  of  Lyons 
Burgundy  did  what  Dauphiny  had  done  in  the  South ;  it  restrained 
and  brought  back  the  departments  of  the  ancient  provinces  of 
Franche-Comte  and  Bresse.  France  and  the  Republic  were  still 
in  extreme  danger;  France  was  begirt  by  a  circle  of  iron  and 
fire. 

Lyons,  armed,  fortified,  and  ruling  the  whole  Rhone-et-Loire,  that 
region  which  to-day  forms  the  two  departments  of  the  Rhone  and 
the  Loire,  paralyzed  in  some  sort  the  army  of  the  Alps.  This  army 
was  no  longer  in  a  condition  to  close  the  mountain-defiles  against 
the  Austro-Piedmontese  forces,  which  were  penetrating  into  Savoy. 
In  the  Pyrenees  the  Spaniards  had  subdued  by  famine  the  fortress 
of  Bellegarde ;  the  plain  of  Roussillon  was  open  to  them,  and  they 
menaced  Perpignan.  Spanish  and  English  flotillas  blockaded  the 
coast  of  Provence. 

The  war  in  La  Vende'e  continued,  and  none  could  foresee  its 
issue.  The  Vende"ans  having  returned  home  after  their  check  at 
Nantes  were  feebly  attacked,  and  made  a  valiant  defence.  Bad 
generals  and  worse  soldiers  were  opposed  to  them.  Hebert's  band 


1793.]  CIVIL  WAR  AND  FOREIGN  WAR.  473 

ruled  paramount  at  the  ministry  of  war ;  one  of  the  most  depraved 
of  this  band,  Ronsin,  formerly  a  writer  of  vaudevilles,  who  was 
appointed  assistant  minister  and  general  without  having  ever  com- 
manded a  squadron,  attempted  to  control  everything  in  La  Vende'e. 

As  to  the  soldiery,  the  Paris  commune  had  sent  those  of  the  most 
worthless  kind.  The  twelve  thousand  men  promised  La  Vendee 
not  being  easily  recruited,  it  had  offered  a  premium  of  five  hun- 
dred livres  for  enlistments.  In  this  way  a  host  of  wretches  had 
been  picked  up,  who  disgraced  the  genuine  Parisian  volunteers  by 
crying,  "Save  yourselves  if  you  can!"  as  soon  as  they  saw  the 
enemy,  and  who  made  war  only  upon  the  defenceless  population, 
pillaging,  assassinating,  and  committing  all  sorts  of  outrages  in 
friendly  countries  and  in  patriotic  communes.  To  this  vile  herd 
France  owed  the  shameful  defeats  which  brought  back  the  Ven- 
deans  to  the  gates  of  Angers. 

The  Angers  patriots  and  a  few  battalions  of  volunteers,  rallied  by 
a  representative  on  mission,  one  of  Danton's  friends,  the  brave  and 
loyal  Philippeaux,  drove  back  the  rebels  beyond  the  Loire  (July 
19-28). 

In  the  North  the  sieges  of  Conde",  Valenciennes,  and  Mayence 
had  held  the  hostile  armies  stationary  for  three  months.  The  long 
resistance  of  these  places  was  the  salvation  of  France.  If  the  allied 
powers  in  the  spring  of  1793  had  massed  rapidly  and  pushed  their 
forces  upon  Paris  in  the  disorganized  state  in  which  it  was  at  that 
time,  France  must  have  succumbed.  The  allied  powers,  however, 
intended  something  far  different  from  a  war  of  principle  against 
the  Eevolution,  and  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbon  monarchy. 

"  The  form  of  government  in  France,"  wrote  the  Prince  of  Coburg 
to  the  emperor  Francis  II.,  "  is  what  the  allied  courts  care  the  least 
about ;  their  sole  design  is  to  aggrandize  and  enrich  themselves  at 
the  expense  of  the  country.  England,  Prussia,  and  Holland  ar- 
dently desire  the  political  annihilation  of  France." 

Coburg  wrote  this  upon  leaving  a  conference  of  representatives 
of  the  allied  powers  held  at  Antwerp  on  the  8th  of  April  The 
English  ambassador  declared  there  that  England  sought  conquests 


474  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

in  France.  "  Each  of  the  allied  powers,"  said  he,  "  should  seek  to 
make  conquests,  and  to  keep  whatever  it  conquers." 

The  young  emperor  Francis  II.  held  the  same  views  as  his  allies. 
He  sharply  reproved  Coburg  for  having  seriously  entertained  the 
idea  of  disinterestedly  co-operating  to  restore  the  son  of  Louis 
XVI.,  and  bade  him  seek  only  to  render  himself  master  of  the 
French  territory  adjacent  to  Belgium.  He  aimed,  besides,  to  make 
conquests  in  Alsace. 

Furthermore,  when,  at  Danton's  instigation,  the  French  minister 
of  foreign  affairs  made  secret  overtures  of  peace  to  England  and 
Austria,  these  advances  were  not  welcomed. 

The  allied  powers,  of  one  mind  in  seeking  to  dismember  France, 
would  have  had  difficulty  in  agreeing  about  its  partition,  and  be- 
sides they  were  already  at  variance  upon  other  objects  of  ambition. 
Prussia  aimed,  above  all,  to  extend  her  power  in  Poland;  while 
Austria  wished  to  prevent  this  extension  and  to  appropriate  Bava- 
ria, giving  Belgium  to  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  in  exchange. 

The  czarina  of  Russia  sought  to  profit  by  the  jealousy  of  Austria 
and  Prussia,  to  become  the  sole  mistress  of  Poland,  that  is,  of  what 
was  left  of  it  since  the  partition  of  1792.  In  1792  the  armies  of 
Catherine  II.  had  invaded  Poland ;  the  czarina  had  stirred  up  the 
partisans  of  ancient  Polish  anarchy  against  the  new  constitution 
of  1791,  which  was  Poland's  only  chance  of  safety,  and  had  suc- 
ceeded in  overthrowing  the  constitution  guaranteed  by  Austria  and 
by  Prussia. 

No  protest  was  raised,  either  by  Prussia,  which  thought  only 
of  a  fresh  dismemberment,  or  by  Austria,  whose  new  sovereign, 
Francis  II,  held  none  of  the  views  of  his  father,  Leopold;  but 
Prussia  demanded  another  slice  of  Poland,  and  Austria  demanded 
Bavaria. 

Catherine,  reluctantly  yielding  a  portion  of  her  prey,  made  a 
treaty  with  Prussia  in  January,  1793.  The  Prussians  in  their  turn 
invaded  that  Poland  to  which  they  had  sworn  alliance  in  1790,  and 
took  possession  of  what  Catherine  relinquished  to  them.  This  was 
the  mouth  of  the  Vistula  with  the  harbor  of  Dantzic,  which  Prussia 


1793.]        LOSS  OF  MAYENCE  AND  VALENCIENNES.  475 

had  long  craved,  and  the  province  of  Posen,  the  ancient  Great- 
Poland.  Catherine  annexed  to  Russia  the  whole  eastern  part  of 
Poland,  leaving  between  her  portion  and  that  of  Prussia  only  a 
small  remnant  of  the  so-called  independent  Poland,  far  less  than 
what  she  took.  Austria  was  greatly  displeased  at  the  division  of 
this  rich  booty  without  her  help,  and  without  even  an  arrangement 
of  the  Bavarian  matter.  Fine  promises  were  made  her,  but  nothing 
was  accomplished. 

These  dissensions  and  jealousies  explain  why  the  campaign  of 
1793  was  conducted  with  little  unanimity.  The  king  of  Prussia, 
absorbed  in  taking  possession  of  his  Polish  provinces,  did  not  take 
action  upon  the  Rhine  as  promptly  as  Austria  had  expected.  He 
cared  little  about  supporting  the  operations  of  Austria  against  the 
northern  frontier  of  France.  Austria  herself,  engaged  in  watch- 
ing the  progress  of  events  in  Poland,  did  not  reinforce  Coburg  as 
strongly  as  she  might  have  done.  Coburg  was  not  prepared  to 
undertake  sieges  after  the  junction  of  the  English  and  the  Dutch 
in  May.  The  king  of  Prussia,  who  had  been  besieging  Mayence 
since  the  end  of  March,  covered  the  siege  toward  the  Vosges  with 
a  portion  of  his  forces. 

The  enterprise  was  difficult  and  perilous.  Mayence  was  defended 
by  a  whole  army-corps,  more  than  twenty  thousand  admirably  gen- 
eralled  men,  and  Custine,  the  general  of  the  French  army  of  the 
Rhine,  when  he  had  added  to  his  own  forces  the  Alsace  garrisons, 
and  had  succeeded  in  uniting  the  armies  of  the  Moselle  and  the 
Rhine,  was  in  a  position  effectively  to  resume  the  offensive.  The 
enemy  had  upwards  of  forty  thousand  men  before  Mayence,  and 
nearly  as  many  upon  the  Vosges,  comprising  an  Austrian  corps  to 
protect  the  siege ;  but  it  had  made  the  mistake  of  scattering  this 
second  half  of  the  army  over  the  long  line  extending  from  Deux- 
Ponts  to  Germersheim.  Custine  might  have  massed  sixty  thou- 
sand men,  pierced  the  enemy's  lines,  and  forced  the  raising  of  the 
siege.  4 

He  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  He  was,  like  Dumouriez,  a  general 
of  great  pretensions  both  military  and  diplomatic,  but  far  inferior 


476  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

to  him.  He  continued  the  plans  of  peace  and  alliance  with  Prus- 
sia which  Dumouriez  had  cherished.  Eesolved  upon  the  abandon- 
ment of  Mayence,  he  sought  to  concentrate  all  his  forces  for  the 
recapture  of  Belgium,  as  if,  by  sacrificing  Mayence,  he  made  sure 
in  advance  of  Prussia.  He  aspired  to  the  chief  command  from  the 
sea  to  the  Ehine.  He  did  not  obtain  it,  but,  after  Dampierre's 
death,  he  was  transferred  to  the  army  of  the  North.  Before  leaving 
for  Flanders,  for  form's  sake,  he  made  a  partial  attack  against  the 
enemy's  line,  which  was  badly  managed  and  resulted  in  nothing. 

His  successor  in  the  army  of  the  Ehine,  General  Beauharnais, 
was  no  more  active  or  enterprising  than  he.  Weeks  and  months 
rolled  away,  and  the  Mayence  garrison  heard  not  a  word  of  succor. 

But  this  garrison  had  true  warriors  at  its  head.  By  their 
example  they  knew  how  to  render  their  soldiers  worthy  of  them. 
There  were  Aubert-Dubayet,  Doyre,  Meunier,  an  illustrious  scholar 
as  well  as  an  able  general,  who  perished  in  this  siege,  and  the  Alsa- 
tian Kleber,  who  was  then  winning  his  first  renown  by  the  most 
brilliant  feats  at  arms.  With  these  were  associated  the  two  repre- 
sentatives, Merlin  de  Thionville  and  Eewbell,  who  assumed,  witli 
vigor  and  admirable  intelligence,  the  one  the  administrative  and  the 
other  the  military  direction. 

The  representative  Merlin,  a  young  advocate  of  Thionville,  an 
ex-seminarist,  was  born  with  a  genius  for  war.  He  fully  compre- 
hended what  Custine  had  failed  to  understand,  the  supreme  impor- 
tance of  Mayence  in  protecting  the  whole  North  and  East  of  ancient 
Gaul,  and  he  devoted  himself  to  preserving  it  to  France.  He  had 
hardly  stirred  thence  since  January,  so  busy  was  he  in  strength- 
ening its  fortifications  and  preparing  for  defence.  The  siege  once 
begun,  he  changed,  so  far  as  he  was  able,  the  defence  into  an  attack, 
leading  continual  sorties,  charging  in  huzzar  fashion,  and  pointing 
the  cannons  like  a  consummate  gunner.  He  electrified  the  soldiers, 
and  made  them  follow  him  everywhere.  When  the  Germans  dis- 
cerned his  tricolored  plume  in  the  midst  of  the  smoke,  they  cried, 
"  There  is  the  fire-devil ! "  and  they  dared  not  take  aim  at  him. 

Three  weeks  before  his  departure  for  the  army  of  the  North, 


1793.]        LOSS   OF  MAYENCE  AND  VALENCIENNES.  477 

Custine  had  advised  the  leaders  of  the  garrison  to  capitulate.  The 
council  of  war  unanimously  rejected  this  counsel  For  more  than 
two  months  the  French  almost  always  took  the  offensive,  and  inces- 
santly harassed  the  enemy.  One  night  they  nearly  carried  off  the 
king  of  Prussia  from  his  headquarters. 

It  was  not  until  about  the  middle  of  June  that  the  king  of  Prus- 
sia had  at  his  disposal  sufficient  artillery  to  bombard  the  place.  In 
returning  up  the  Ehine,  the  Dutch  cannoneers  had  brought  him  a 
reinforcement  of  heavy  guns.  Twenty-eight  batteries  incessantly 
rained  bombs  and  shells  upon  Mayence.  "  For  five  weeks,"  writes 
Kleber,  "we  have  lived  under  an  arch  of  fire." 

The  frightened  inhabitants  in  throngs  asked  permission  to  leave 
the  city.  By  order  of  the  king  of  Prussia,  the  Germans  refused  to 
let  these  unfortunates  go,  and  fired  upon  them.  On  hearing  the 
shrieks  of  the  women  and  children  outside,  the  French  could  not 
resist,  and  Merlin  reopened  the  gates  to  them. 

The  return  of  these  poor  people  made  matters  worse.  The  meat, 
wine,  and  medicines  were  exhausted.  A  little  wheat  remained,  but 
there  was  great  difficulty  in  grinding  it,  the  mills  having  been 
burned.  There  were  no  other  tidings  from  France  than  the  reports 
circulated  by  the  enemy  of  reverses  to  its  armies.  The  generals  and 
representatives,  having  no  longer  any  hope  of  relief,  asked  each  other 
whether  it  was  not  better  to  preserve  to  the  Bepublic  sixteen  or 
eighteen  thousand  soldiers,  than  let  them  be  carried  off  by  famine 
a  fortnight  later,  and  with  them  the  Mayen^ais  and  Eheuish  repub- 
licans who  had  endangered  themselves  for  France. 

The  king  of  Prussia  made  little  difficulty  with  respect  to  condi- 
tions. The  garrison  marched  out  with  all  the  honors  of  war,  with 
drums  beating  to  the  tune  of  the  Marseillaise,  and  bearing  with 
them  the  Ehenish  patriots,  who,  upon  reaching  the  frontier,  were 
to  be  exchanged  for  German  prisoners  (July  24).  They  had  only 
promised  not  to  serve  for  a  year  against  the  allied  powers,  a  condi- 
tion which  left  them  free  to  fight  the  rebels  in  La  Vendee. 

The  defence  of  Mayence  has  been  justly  extolled,  and  it  proves 
that  capitulation  is  unwise  except  in  the  last  extremity.  At  the 


478  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

veiy  moment  when  Mayence  was  evacuated,  the  armies  of  the 
Ehine  and  the  Moselle,  urged  on  by  the  Committee  of  Public 
Welfare,  finally  shook  off  their  long  inaction,  and  attacked  the 
enemy's  outposts  upon  the  Vosges. 

It  was  too  late ;  the  real  culprits,  however,  were  the  incompetent 
general  of  the  Rhine,  Beauharnais,  the  minister  of  war,  and  the  two 
representatives,  who  had  not  had  the  wisdom  to  send  the  armies  of 
the  Rhine  and  the  Moselle  to  the  relief  of  their  brave  comrades 
at  Mayence,  and  who  prevented  an  exchange  of  prisoners  for  the 
unfortunate  Mayence  patriots. 

The  sieges  of  Valenciennes  and  Conde  had  progressed  simultane- 
ously with  that  of  Mayence.  The  little  town  of  Conde  capitulated 
toward  the  middle  of  July,  after  having  lost  almost  two  thirds  of  its 
garrison.  Valenciennes,  defended  by  ten  thousand  regular  soldiers 
and  a  few  thousand  national  guards,  was  besieged  by  the  Duke  of 
York,  a  brother  of  the  king  of  England.  The  Prince  of  Coburg 
protected  the  siege  of  Valenciennes  while  he  took  Conde;  these 
two  generals  had  upwards  of  eighty  thousand  men. 

On  the  14th  of  June  the  Duke  of  York  summoned  Valenciennes 
to  surrender.  General  Ferrand,  who  commanded  the  place,  for  his 
sole  response,  sent  to  the  Duke  the  copy  of  an  oath  to  defend  the 
place  to  the  death,  which  had  been  sworn  by  the  garrison  and  in- 
habitants upon  the  Altar  of  the  Country.  The  bombardment  began 
that  very  day.  It  was  at  first  endured  by  the  inhabitants  with 
much  firmness  and  cheerfulness.  They  had  good  hope  of  speedy 
succor.  Carnot  urged  Custine  to  set  the  army  of  the  North  in 
motion,  and  to  give  battle  for  the  deliverance  of  Valenciennes,  or 
at  least  to  make  a  great  counter-attack  upon  Belgian  Flanders. 
Custine  did  nothing. 

The  bombardment  was  terrible.  The  enemy  had  two  great  parks 
of  siege  artillery,  —  almost  three  hundred  pieces  of  heavy  calibre. 
The  arsenal  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  city  were  soon  in 
ashes.  The  majority  of  the  inhabitants  remained  patriotic  and  res- 
olute, but  the  municipality  and  a  portion  of  the  rich  citizens  did 
not  share  these  sentiments.  The  counter-revolutionists  advised  the 


1793.]       LOSS  OF  MAYEXCE  AND  VALENCIENNES.  479 

enemy  of  everything  that  went  on  in  the  town.  For  some  time  the 
menaces  of  the  garrison  overawed  ill-disposed  citizens ;  but  after 
the  night  of  July  25,  when  the  outworks  had  been  carried  by 
assault,  the  advocates  of  surrender  rose  in  insurrection,  and  the 
municipality  declared  it  necessary  to  accept  the  capitulation  offered 
by  the  Duke  of  York. 

The  commander  of  the  fortifications  saw  that  he  could  not  hold 
out  six  days  longer.  The  council  of  war  yielded.  Valenciennes 
obtained,  like  Mayence,  the  honors  of  war,  and  the  garrison,  reduced 
one  half,  marched  out  with  its  field-artillery,  pledging  itself  not  to 
serve  for  a  year  against  the  allies  (July  28). 

The  municipality  received  the  Duke  of  York  with  white  flags, 
and  saluted  him  with  the  title  of  "  liberator."  This  royalist  demon- 
stration was  useless  ;  the  Prince  of  Coburg  took  possession  of  Conde 
and  Valenciennes,  not  in  the  name  of  the  son  of  Louis  XVI.,  but 
in  that  of  the  emperor  Francis  II.  The  coalition  no  longer  took 
the  trouble  to  conceal  its  true  aims. 

Custine  had  ceased  to  command  the  army  of  the  North.  Sum- 
moned to  Paris  by  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  he  had 
been  sent  to  the  Abbaye  prison  on  the  charge  of  high  treason. 
General  Kilmaine,  who  for  the  time  being  commanded  the  army, 
evacuated  Camp  Cesar,  near  Bouchain  on  the  Scheldt,  in  order 
to  fall  back  upon  the  Scarpe,  between  Douai  and  Arras.  He  did 
not  allow  himself  to  be  cut  off  from  his  retreat  by  the  greatly  supe- 
rior forces  of  the  enemy ;  but  the  route  to  Paris  was  open ;  the 
emigrants  ardently  urged  York  and  Coburg  to  advance,  and  news 
soon  came  that  Cambrai  was  blockaded,  and  that  the  hostile  factions 
were  hastening  to  the  gates  of  Saint-Quentin.  The  king  of  Prussia, 
on  his  side  being  master  of  Mayence,  could  attack  either  Lorraine 
or  Alsace. 

As  we  have  seen  upon  every  occasion,  increasing  peril  redoubled 
the  enthusiasm  and  violence  of  the  Mountain  party.  It  caused  the 
adoption  by  the  Convention  of  a  series  of  terrible  measures.  July 
26  the  death-penalty  was  decreed  against  monopolists  of  necessary 
commodities.  On  the  28th  the  Convention  adopted  the  conclusions 


THE  FKENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

of  Saint-Just's  report  against  the  deputies  who  had  escaped  from 
Paris,  and  who  were  declared  traitors  to  the  country,  and  against 
those  under  arrest,  who  were  ordered  to  be  brought  to  trial. 

August  1  it  was  decreed  that  the  estates  of  all  outlaws  should  be 
confiscated  in  favor  of  the  Republic ; 

That  Marie  Antoinette  should  be  tried  by  the  revolutionary 
tribunal ; 

That  the  tombs  of  the  kings  at  Saint-Denis  and  elsewhere  should 
be  destroyed ; 

That  the  authorities  should  be  empowered  to  arrest  on  suspicion 
foreigners  belonging  to  the  nations  with  whom  France  was  at 
war; 

That  whosoever  refused  to  receive  assignats  in  payment  at  par 
should  be  condemned  to  six  months'  imprisonment,  and  in  case  of 
repetition  of  the  offence,  to  twenty  years  in  irons. 

The  Convention  also  decreed  that  in  the  insurgent  district  of  La 
Vendee  the  thickets  and  underwood  should  be  burned,  the  forests 
cut  down,  the  retreats  of  rebels  destroyed,  the  crops  carried  away, 
the  animals  seized,  and  the  women,  children,  and  old  men  con- 
ducted to  the  interior  of  the  territory  of  the  Republic,  where  their 
safety  and  support  would  be  provided  for  by  the  state. 

Those  who  voted  for  such  measures  at  a  distance  were  unable  to 
perceive  the  horrors  which  they  involved.  In  the  same  decree  which 
contains  these  inhuman  orders  the  Convention  denounces,  "in  the 
name  of  outraged  humanity,  to  all  peoples,  and  even  to  England, 
the  English  government,  which  it  accuses  of  suborning  soldiers  for 
the  commission  of  all  crimes  tending  toward  an  annihilation  of  the 
rights  of  man."  It  furthermore  declared  Pitt  the  enemy  of  the 
human  race.  It  is  certain  that  Pitt  employed  means  against  France 
that  were  wholly  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations ;  he  not  only  exag- 
gerated and  hastened  the  depreciation  of  her  assignats  by  fraudulent 
stock-jobbing  manreuvres,  but  he  caused  the  manufacture  of  quanti- 
ties of  counterfeit  assignats.  By  actual  deeds  of  piracy  he  effected 
the  capture  of  neutral  ships  destined  for  France,  and  caused  French 
vessels  to  be  attacked  in  neutral  ports. 


1793.]  CIVIL  WAR  AND  FOREIGN  WAR.  481 

To  save  France  something  else  was  required  than  violent  decrees 
by  the  Convention.  A  strong  government  was  needed,  which  would 
concentrate  in  its  hands  all  the  national  resources,  and  employ  them 
in  accordance  with  a  wisely  conceived  and  vigorously  executed  plan. 
But  France  had  no  government  The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare 
had  not  thus  far  accomplished  the  ends  for  which  it  had  been 
created.  Enfeebled  by  the  catastrophe  of  June  2,  which  it  had 
neither  provoked  nor  averted,  it  had  not  assumed  authority  over  the 
ministers.  It  had  not  governed.  As  we  have  said,  the  ministry  of 
war  was  entirely  under  the  control  of  Hebert  and  his  accomplices ; 
hence  the  disorders  and  the  reverses  which  threatened  universal 
ruin.  Unavailing  attempts  had  been  made  to  displace  Bouchotte, 
the  incompetent  minister  of  war.  Robespierre  protected  him  in 
order  to  make  sure  of  the  Hebertists. 

The  Hebertists,  cloyed  and  satisfied,  had  recently  supported 
Robespierre  and  the  Mountain  against  the  madmen  of  the  fiveche 
committee,  composed  of  visionaries  and  sectarians,  who  were  begin- 
ning to  talk  of  community  of  property,  and  were  seeking  to  stir  up 
new  disturbances  by  attacking  the  Constitution  of  1793.  Hebert 
circulated  by  hundreds  of  thousands  his  ignoble  journal,  Le  Pere 
Duchene,  at  the  expense  of  the  ministry  of  war.  The  austere 
Robespierre  feared  and  cajoled  this  vicious,  rapacious  man,  and 
endured  the  humiliation  of  such  an  alliance  until  he  believed  him- 
self powerful  enough  to  do  without  it.  Cambon  could  do  nothing 
here ;  he  controlled  the  receipts,  but  not  the  expenditure  of  the 
finances.  Danton,  who  had  just  taken  a  mere  child  for  his  second 
wife,  had  for  some  weeks  seemed  wholly  indifferent  to  public  affairs. 

Danton  awoke  from  *his  torpor  on  the  very  day  that  the  Conven- 
tion decreed  so  many  violent  but  inefficient  measures;  he  went 
straight  to  the  point  "  The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,"  said  he, 
"  must  be  constituted  a  provisional  government,  and  the  ministers 
must  be  only  its  agents." 

Danton  had  left  the  committee,  Robespierre  had  just  entered  it ; 
nevertheless,  Robespierre  demanded  the  postponement  of  the  prop- 
osition. He  saw  that  a  rupture  with  the  Hebertists  would  ensue. 

31 


482  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

The  Convention  did  not  give  the  committee  the  title  of  provisional 
government,  but  conferred  on  it  all  the  powers  thereof,  so  that  it 
had  nothing  to  do  but  to  use  them.  This  was  what  Danton  wished. 

After  a  few  days  of  wrangling  within  itself,  the  Committee  of 
Public  Welfare  decided  upon  an  important  step.  The  committee 
did  not  number  a  soldier  among  its  members.  Barere,  who  compre- 
hended the  danger  and  who  had  learned  to  appreciate  Carnot,  pro- 
posed him  as  a  coadjutor.  This  was  creating  a  real  minister  of  war 
above  the  minister  Bouchotte. 

Eobespierre  opposed  this,  both  from  fear  of  the  Hebertists  and 
antipathy  against  Carnot,  who  had  refused  to  sanction  the  lawless 
acts  of  June  2.  The  majority  of  the  committee,  even  Couthon  and 
Saint-Just,  sided  with  Barere,  and  the  Convention  gave  its  approval. 
On  the  14th  of  August  Carnot  became  one  of  the  committee,  with 
an  officer  of  engineers,  Prieur  of  the  Cote-d'Or,  who  was  destined  to 
be  his  faithful  and  capable  auxiliary. 

The  Convention  and  the  people  had  now  but  one  thought,  —  to 
repel  invasion  and  to  save  the  national  unity.  The  enthusiasm  of 
volunteers  no  longer  sufficed  as  in  1792,  neither  did  the  levy  of 
three  hundred  thousand  men,  which  had  been  most  imperfectly  car- 
ried out.  The  forty-eight  sections  of  Paris,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Jacobins,  demanded  a  levy  en  masse.  Eight  thousand  delegates  from 
the  departments  had  come  to  Paris  to  join  in  celebrating  the  anni- 
versary of  the  10th  of  August  and  the  acceptance  of  the  new  Con- 
stitution. Danton  proposed  that  these  new  federates  should  accept 
the  mission  of  summoning  the  people  everywhere  to  arms,  and  tak- 
ing an  inventory  of  the  grain  and  weapons  and  of  men  able  to  bear 
service  in  concert  with  the  local  authorities. 

August  23  the  Convention  passed  the  following  decrees  :  — 

"  From  this  moment  until  our  enemies  shall  have  been  driven 
from  the  territory  of  the  Eepublic  all  Frenchmen  shall  be  liable  to 
be  drafted  for  military  service. 

"  The  young  men  shall  join  the  ranks ;  the  married  men  shall 
forge  arms  and  transport  provisions ;  the  women  shall  make  tents 
and  garments,  and  assist  in  the  hospitals ;  the  children  shall  scrape 


1793.]  THE  CIVIL  CODE.  483 

lint ;  the  old  men  shall  repair  to  the  public  squares  to  incite  courage 
in  the  soldiers,  hatred  against  kings,  and  the  unity  of  the  Republic. 

"The  national  buildings  shall  be  converted  into  barracks;  the 
public  places  into  arsenals ;  and  the  soil  of  cellars  shall  be  washed 
to  extract  saltpetre  therefrom. 

"  All  horses  except  those  used  in  agriculture  may  be  taken  for 
military  service. 

"The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  is  instructed  to  establish 
without  delay  manufactories  extraordinary  of  all  sorts  of  arms,  in 
conformity  with  the  needs  of  the  French  people." 

A  universal  levy  was  decreed  in  theory,  but  in  fact  none  were 
required  to  join  the  ranks  but  unmarried  citizens  and  childless 
widowers,  from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  years,  forming  a  battalion 
for  each  district  (arrondissemenf).  The  representatives  of  the  people 
were  invested  with  the  same  powers  as  the  representatives  sent 
on  missions  to  the  armies,  and  were  instructed  to  provide  for  the 
organization  of  the  recruits. 

The  provisions  of  this  great  decree  evinced  a  practical  spirit 
which  attested  that  the  destiny  of  the  country  would  no  longer 
be  abandoned  to  transient  outbursts  of  enthusiasm.  The  requisi- 
tion was  not  a  confused  levy  en  masse;  it  was  the  regular  organi- 
zation of  France  into  an  immense  camp,  and  the  application  of  all 
the  resources  of  science  to  assist  her  courage. 

Through  the  grandeur  of  its  effort  to  save  the  national  indepen- 
dence, the  Convention  on  the  23d  of  August  raised  itself  from 
the  degradation  into  which  it  had  fallen  on  the  2d  of  June.  It 
pursued  at  the  same  time,  with  equal  brilliancy  and  power,  the 
other  work  which  remained  possible  after  June  2,  the  organization 
of  modern  civil  society. 

Before  the  foreign  invasion  and  the  civil  war,  when  "to  be  or 
not  to  be  "  had  seemed  the  only  question,  the  Convention  had  found 
time,  and  freedom  of  thought  for  other  objects  which  might  have 
demanded  the  exclusive  attention  of  an  assembly  of  philosophers 
and  legislators  in  the  most  peaceful  days. 

The  terrible  period  whose  history  we  are  relating  was  precisely 


484  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

that  of  the  grand  creations  and  the  noble  discussions  which  con- 
tinued the  work  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  producing  the  most 
enduring  results  and  reinvigorating  France. 

The  "  Plain,"  that  Centre  of  the  Convention  which  had  been  the 
object  of  so  much  disdain,  had  taken  its  part  in  these  imperishable 
labors ;  here  were  a  number  of  obscure  and  modest  men,  who  worked 
patiently  and  thoroughly  outside  of  parties,  and  who  performed  acts 
far  above  the  comprehension  of  those  men  of  a  different  epoch  who 
insult  their  memory. 

August  15  Cambon  had  presented  to  the  Convention  a  plan  for 
the  creation  of  a  Great  Book  of  the  Public  Debt.  This  public  debt 
consisted  of  a  mass  of  debts  of  diverse  origin  and  in  diverse  inter- 
ests ;  debts  of  the  late  monarchy,  exceedingly  varied  and  compli- 
cated ;  debts  of  the  former  provinces ;  debts  of  the  clergy  and  of 
divers  suppressed  corporations ;  debts  to  private  individuals  whose 
offices  had  been  abolished  by  the  Revolution.  It  was  real  chaos. 

Cambon  induced  the  Convention  to  consolidate  all  these  debts 
into  a  single  one,  bearing  five  per  cent  interest,  and  registered  in 
one  ledger  which  was  known  as  "  The  Great  Book."  It  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  foresee  the  financial  catastrophe  which  was  to  result 
from  the  war  of  the  Eevolution  and  the  multiplication  of  assignats ; 
but  if  he  could  not  save  the  present,  he  insured  order  for  the  future, 
and  paved  the  way  for  that  credit  for  New  France  which  the  An- 
cient Regime  had  never  known. 

Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the  Assembly 
entered  upon  important  discussions  concerning  public  instruction. 
Lakanal,  a  man  devoted  to  teaching  and  to  science,  after  obtaining 
a  decree  for  a  competition  in  the  preparation  of  good  elementary 
books,  June  26,  presented  to  the  Convention  a  plan  of  national 
education  more  precise  and  practical,  but  less  broad  and  complete 
than  the  drafts  drawn  up  for  the  Constituent  and  Legislative  As- 
semblies by  Talleyrand  and  Condorcet.  The  Constitution  of  1791 
had  decreed  the  organization  of  a  system  of  public  instruction, 
common  to  all  citizens,  and  gratuitous  in  those  branches  of  educa- 
tion indispensable  to  all.  The  plans  of  Talleyrand  and  Condorcet 


1793.]  THE  CIVIL  CODE.  485 

embraced  all  grades  of  instruction,  from  the  primary  school  to  the 
institute  of  higher  science  and  literature ;  Lakanal's  plan  comprised 
only  the  knowledge  necessary  to  all,  and  proposed  to  organize 
primary  schools  alone. 

According  to  this  plan,  there  was  to  be  one  school  for  every 
thousand  inhabitants.  Young  children  of  both  sexes  were  at  first 
to  learn  from  an  instructress  the  elements  of  reading  and  writing ; 
then  the  boys  were  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  an  instructor.  The 
two  sexes  were  to  be  taught,  the  one  by  the  instructor  and  the 
other  by  the  instructress,  elementary  ideas  of  arithmetic,  geometry, 
natural  science,  geography,  morals,  and  social  order.  There  were 
to  be  gymnastic  exercises  for  both  sexes ;  military  exercises  for  the 
boys,  sewing  for  the  girls ;  manual  labor  for  both.  The  pupils  were 
to  be  organized  so  as  to  secure  as  nearly  as  possible  what  has  since 
been  termed  "  mutual  instruction." 

The  instructors  were  to  give  public  lectures  to  adults  upon  mor- 
als, social  order,  rural  economy,  etc.  The  pupils  who  had  shown 
the  most  inclination  for  science,  letters,  and  the  arts  were  to  receive, 
as  "  pupils  of  the  country,"  such  assistance  as  would  enable  them 
to  acquire  higher  knowledge  from  outside  professors. 

Lakanal's  plan,  which  was  excellent  for  primary  instruction,  al- 
lowed the  government  no  authority  in  intermediate  and  higher 
instruction.  It  attempted  to  make  up  for  this,  although  indirectly 
and  very  imperfectly,  by  rewards  to  professors  and  scholars  who 
had  done  brilliant  service  to  the  progress  of  knowledge  and  instruc- 
tion, and  by  the  creation  of  a  great  national  library,  and  libraries 
in  each  district. 

National  fetes,  as  the  Constitution  of  1791  had  already  prescribed, 
were  to  be  instituted  for  the  celebration  of  the  "  epochs  of  nature, 
those  of  human  society,  and  those  of  the  French  Revolution." 

The  essential  merit  of  Lakanal's  plan,  and  that  which  chiefly 
distinguishes  it  from  modern  methods  of  instruction,  is  that  the 
author  regarded  the  education  of  both  sexes  as  of  like  importance 
to  society  and  to  the  Republic ;  he  placed  each  upon  a  footing  of 
exact  equality. 


486  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

After  the  lapse  of  eighty  years  primary  instruction  in  this  respect 
is  still  far  below  Lakanal's  project. 

To  Lakanal's  plan  Eobespierre  opposed  that  left  by  Lepelletier  as 
his  bequest  to  the  Eepublic  for  which  he  died.  Lepelletier^s  scheme 
was  inspired  by  the  most  lofty  and  generous  sentiments;  but  in 
declaring  that  all  children  from  five  to  twelve  years  should  be  edu- 
cated in  common  and  at  the  expense  of  the  Eepublic,  he  attacked 
family  rights,  and  we  might  say,  natural  law.  This  was  clearly 
discerned  by  Bishop  Gregoire,  who  in  the  name  of  the  family  re- 
pelled the  idea  of  education  in  common,  and  the  "  national  board- 
ing-school," and  accepted  common  instruction,  the  public  school,  in 
the  name  of  the  country  (July  30). 

Public  schools  where  children  of  both  sexes  were  to  be  educated 
together  were  nevertheless  decreed ;  but  this  impracticable  measure 
resulted  in  nothing,  and  was  soon  repealed.  A  decree  of  October  26 
prescribed  the  establishment  of  schools  for  each  sex,  conformably  to 
Lakanal's  plan.  Instruction  was  to  be  given  exclusively  in  the 
French  language,  in  order  to  strengthen  the  national  unity.  The 
functions  of  instructor  were  declared  incompatible  with  those  of 
a  minister  of  worship.  The  terrible  agitations  of  this  period  left 
the  legislators  neither  means  nor  leisure  to  carry  out  this  vast 
project,  as  yet  unfinished. 

Lakanal  would  have  gladly  completed  his  plan.  On  the  occasion 
of  a  petition  from  the  Parisian  authorities,  who,  under  the  influence 
of  Chaumette,  had  shown  themselves  favorable  to  instruction,  he 
proposed  the  organization  of  three  grades  of  teaching,  in  the  name 
of  the  Committee  of  Public  Instruction.  The  partisans  of  false 
equality  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  postponement  of  the  decision 
(September  16). 

Meantime,  the  bases  were  laid  of  great  institutions  of  science  and 
art.  The  Museum  of  Natural  History  had  been  organized  on  the 
30th  of  May.  August  10,  the  day  of  the  fete  of  the  Constitution, 
when  was  heard  for  the  first  time  the  sublime  "  Song  of  Departure," 
of  Mehul  and  Chenier,  the  only  song  worthy  to  be  compared  with 
the  Marseillaise,  the  Louvre  Museum  was  inaugurated ;  here  were 


1793.]  THE  CIVIL 'CODE.  487 

collected  the  pictures  and  ancient  statues  taken  from  the  royal 
residences.  The  same  day,  at  the  Petits-Augustins,  was  inaugu- 
rated the  Museum  of  French  Monuments,  an  admirable  collection 
of  tombs,  statues,  glass,  and  all  sorts  of  relics  of  the  Middle  Ages 
and  the  Renaissance,  taken  from  abbeys  and  palaces  suppressed  or 
confiscated  by  the  Eevolution.  The  Restoration  barbarously  dis- 
persed this  unrivalled  historical  museum.  Through  Lakanal's  influ- 
ence the  Convention  decreed  a  penalty  of  two  years  in  irons  against 
those  who  should  do  injury  to  the  public  monuments  either  through 
ignorance  or  a  mania  for  destruction  indulged  in  under  the  pretext 
of  destroying  whatever  reminded  them  of  despotism  or  superstition. 
Other  analogous  measures  were  passed  upon  divers  occasions,  on  mo- 
tion of  Bishop  Gre"goire  and  other  members  of  the  Convention.  Un- 
happily they  did  not  suffice  to  prevent  much  irreparable  destruction. 

July  26,  upon  Lakanal's  motion,  in  the  name  of  the  Committee 
of  Public  Instruction,  the  Assembly  adopted  the  system  devised  by 
the  learned  Chappe  for  perfecting  the  language  of  signals.  This 
was  that  aerial  telegraph  whose  broad  arms  were  seen  waving  upon 
the  towers  and  mountains  of  France  until  it  was  replaced  by  a  more 
daring  and  profound  scientific  instrument,  the  electric  telegraph. 

By  this  aerial  telegraph  orders  could  be  sent  from  Paris  to  the 
northern  frontier  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  This  celerity, 
which  is  now  far  surpassed,  but  which  then  appeared  prodigious, 
produced  important  results  in  military  operations. 

August  1,  upon  that  very  day  when  the  Convention,  hurried  away 
by  passion  and  a  consciousness  of  danger,  promulgated  so  many 
terrible  measures,  it  voted  an  institution  which  had  been  demanded 
for  centuries  and  which  had  been  projected  by  the  ancient  kings 
and  invoked  by  the  ancient  States-General,  but  which  modern  sci- 
ence and  the  Revolution  alone  were  able  to  put  in  execution.  The 
Constituent  Assembly  had  instructed  the  Academy  of  Sciences  to 
devise  means  of  establishing  unity  of  weights  and  measures.  The 
extreme  diversity  of  the  denominations  and  proportions  in  use,  both 
for  measuring  land  and  articles  of  commerce  and  for  weighing  com- 
modities, gave  rise  to  infinite  difficulty  and  confusion. 


488  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XT. 

The  Academy  of  Sciences  had  given  hopes  of  the  achievement 
of  the  great  task  confided  to  it  during  the  first  months  of  1794. 
It  labored  with  such  zeal  that  by  the  1st  of  August,  1793,  the 
Alsatian  professor,  Arbogast,  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Instruction,  was  able  to  present  the  report  to  the  Convention. 

The  Academy  had  comprehended  that  there  was  no  longer  any 
necessity  for  taking  as  standards  of  measurement,  after  the  example 
of  the  ancients,  different  parts  of  the  human  body  of  uncertain  and 
variable  dimensions,  such  as  the  foot,  the  thumb,  the  palm,  the 
elbow,  etc.;  and  that  a  certain  and  absolute  measure  should  be 
found  in  nature,  whose  adoption  might  prove  beneficial  to  other 
nations  than  the  French,  and  which  might  serve  for  the  whole 
world.  It  took  for  the  unit  of  measurement  the  ten-millionth 
part  of  a  quarter  of  the  terrestrial  meridian,  that  is  to  say,  of  the 
circumference  of  the  earth.  This  unit  was  called  the  "  metre,"  from 
a  Greek  word  meaning  "  measure." 

The  metre  manufactured  by  the  Convention,  the  measure  par 
excellence,  which  was  to  serve  as  the  model  for  all  other  metres,  is 
preserved  in  the  national  archives  as  one  of  the  most  praiseworthy 
monuments  of  science  applied  to  the  progress  of  the  human  mind. 

The  metre  and  its  subdivision,  the  centimetre,  were  applied  t9 
measures  of  capacity  as  well  as  to  those  of  surface. 

In  weight  the  Academy  took  for  unity  the  cube  of  a  tenth  of  the 
metre  of  distance  filled  with  distilled  water.  The  decimal  system 
was  adopted,  that  is,  the  division  into  tenths,  of  measures  of  surface 
and  capacity. 

October  2  the  remains  of  Descartes,  the  father  of  modern  philos- 
ophy, were  transferred  to  the  Pantheon  upon  motion  of  the  poet, 
Andre"  Chenier.  November  7  Chenier  obtained  a  decree  for  the 
foundation  of  a  national  musical  institute. 

The  Convention  earnestly  endeavored  to  organize  public  benevo- 
lence and  regulate  the  assistance  to  be  given  to  the  aged,  to  orphans, 
and  to  poor  and  numerous  families.  The  effort  was  praiseworthy ; 
but  its  result  could  not  be  realized  in  the  formidable  crisis  through 
which  society  was  then  passing.  The  Convention  also  regulated 


1793.]  THE  CIVIL  CODE.  489 

the  division  of  corporate  estates  wherever  such  partition  was 
desired  by  the  inhabitants,  among  all  the  persons  domiciliated,  of 
whatever  sex  or  age.  The  forests  were  excepted.  The  law  wisely 
enacted  that  no  portion  of  a  corporate  estate  which  had  been  divided 
could  be  alienated  by  its  new  proprietor  within  the  space  of  ten 
years,  or  seized  for  debt. 

This  created  a  large  number  of  new  proprietors  who  transformed 
into  fertile  fields  many  desolate  wastes  and  barren  pastures. 

March  7  the  Convention  abolished  the  right  to  devise  property  by 
will  when  the  testator  had  offspring,  and  decreed  an  equal  division 
among  the  children.  In  its  reaction  in  favor  of  equality,  the  Con- 
vention went  too  far  in  depriving  parents  of  all  power  to  devise  any 
portion  of  their  property.  The  law  has  since  been  changed;  an 
equitable  portion  of  the  estate,  which  cannot  be  otherwise  devised, 
is  now  secured  to  the  children. 

The  laws  of  entail  which  allowed  the  testator  not  only  to  transmit 
his  estates  to  an  immediate  successor,  but  to  dispose  of  them  for 
future  generations,  were  abolished,  and  with  good  reason.  The  Con- 
vention intended  not  to  weaken,  but  to  consolidate  the  principle  of 
property,  by  establishing  it  upon  rational  and  republican  bases. 

The  Constituent  Assembly  had  recognized  the  necessity  of  col- 
lecting in  a  single  code  the  civil  laws  of  New  France.  The  Con- 
vention undertook  to  realize  this  idea ;  upon  Cambon's  motion,  it 
chose  from  the  Committee  on  Legislation  five  members,  who  were 
instructed  to  draft  a  civil  code  which  should  be  "  clear  and  simple," 
and  which  should  replace  the  chaos  of  old  laws  and  customs.  These 
members  were  Cambaceres,  Treilhard,  Berlier,  Merlin  de  Douai,  and 
Thibaudeau.  Posterity,  however  it  may  have  improved  upon  their 
work,  should  hold  their  names  in  remembrance. 

The  Convention  had  allowed  three  months  for  this  great  work. 
At  the  end  of  one  month,  upon  the  9th  of  August,  Cambaceres 
appeared,  in  behalf  of  his  associates,  with  the  draft  they  had  pre- 
pared. The  discussion  upon  it  began  August  22 ;  it  was  many 
times  resumed  in  the  intervals  of  revolutionary  tempests.  The 
Convention  devoted  to  it  no  fewer  than  sixty  sessions. 


490  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XV. 

In  the  words  of  an  illustrious  philosopher  and  historian,  Edgar 
Quinet,  the  Convention  decided  unanimously  upon  the  principles  of 
French  civil  institutions ;  in  this  matter  there  was  neither  Mountain 
nor  Plain,  Girondists  nor  Jacobins ;  there  was  the  Revolution  in  its 
unity.  If  a  few  sectarians  or  a  few  outside  Utopians  failed  to  recog- 
nize these  principles,  their  voices  found  no  echo  in  the  great  Assem- 
bly. The  status  of  persons,  the  rights  of  husbands  and  wives,  the 
relations  between  parents  and  children,  the  engagements  between 
private  individuals,  and  the  transmission  of  property,  were  regulated, 
as  regarded  their  principal  conditions,  by  the  National  Convention. 

It  was  the  Convention,  therefore,  that  regulated  the  laws  of  family 
and  property  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  modern  and  advanced 
ideas.  If  upon  some  points,  and  especially  upon  those  relating  to 
the  condition  of  women,  the  modern  spirit  finds  no  satisfaction  in 
this  code,  vigorous  as  it  is,  it  was  not  the  fault  of  the  Convention, 
but  of  the  man  under  whose  lead  its  work  was  completed  and 
improved  in  some  respects,  as  in  the  divorce  laws  and  the  testa- 
mentary rights,  but  injured  in  others.  This  man  was  BONAPAETE. 

The  Convention  had  inherited  the  materials  prepared  by  the 
Constituent  Assembly,  itself  the  heir  of  the  great  labors  of  the 
ancient  jurisconsults  of  France.  To  the  Convention  belonged  the 
work  of  arranging  these  materials  and  summing  up  these  labors.  It 
did  not  put  the  final  touch  to  this  work,  because  it  sought  to  give  it 
a  more  philosophical  and  less  exclusively  judicial  form ;  but  to  it 
belongs  all  that  is  essential  in  the  Civil  Code,  the  glory  of  which 
was  appropriated  by  the  first  Consul,  Bonaparte. 

This  creation,  like  others  we  have  cited,  and  which  we  shall  cite 
again,  was  the  work  of  men  placed  between  the  cannon  and  the 
scaffold,  and  who  knew  not  whether  a  fortnight  after  their  heads 
would  be  still  upon  their  shoulders.  Heroism  like  this  has  no  par- 
allel in  history. 


1793.]  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  491 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continue^).  —  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  —  DEATH   OF 

THE  GIRONDISTS. 

August  to  November,  1793. 

fTHHE  powerful  impulse  for  war  to  the  knife  which  called  forth 
_L_  the  Requisition,  and  placed  Carnot  at  the  head  of  the  armies, 
at  the  same  time  urged  on  the  Eeign  of  Terror.  General  Custine, 
who  had  long  been  the  favorite  of  the  Jacobins  and  one  of  the 
hopes  of  the  Revolution,  was  condemned  to  death  by  the  revolu- 
tionary tribunal  on  the  27th  of  August,  and  sent  to  the  scaffold 
as  a  traitor.  He  was  not  such,  but  "  a  series  of  inexplicable  mis- 
takes" gave  nis  actions  every  appearance  of  treason.  He  atoned 
for  the  guilt  of  Dumouriez. 

A  few  days  after,  twelve  citizens  of  Rouen,  tried  and  condemned 
at  Paris  for  connivance  with  the  insurgents  of  Central  Normandy, 
were  sent  to  the  guillotine.  These  first  executions  were  followed 
by  others  in  their  city  and  department.  Le  Calvados  and  L'Eure, 
which  had  been  the  focus  of  the  Girondist  insurrection,  were  still 
more  terribly  menaced.  Inquiries  concerning  the  rebellion  of  these 
two  departments  were  intrusted  to  Robert  Lindet,  a  formidable 
Mountaineer,  and  the  deputy  from  L'Eure.  A  harsh,  morose  manner 
and  habit  of  violent  gesticulation  had  given  him  a  sinister  reputa- 
tion ;  the  Girondists  called  him  "  the  hyena."  Nevertheless,  what 
was  the  terror  of  the  Normans  became  their  salvation.  Robert 
Lindet  soon  rose  to  a  position  on  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety 
which  was  second  in  importance  only  to  that  of  Carnot,  and  made 
the  vast  affairs  intrusted  to  him  a  pretext  for  delaying  his  report 


492  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVI. 

upon  Normandy.  He  protracted  it  so  long  that  the  Eeign  of  Terror 
was  over  before  the  report  was  ready. 

"While  a  fortunate  circumstance  thus  spared  a  corner  of  the 
Northwest,  events  in  the  Southeast  rendered  the  Eeign  of  Terror 
in  Paris  and  elsewhere  more  and  more  implacable.  The  leaders 
of  the  Lyonnais  reaction,  after  sending  Chalier  and  sundry  other 
Jacobins  to  the  scaffold,  endeavored  to  retrace  their  steps  and  com- 
promise matters  by  recognizing  the  Constitution  of  1793,  but  at 
the  same  time  declaring  that  they  should  maintain  their  attitude 
of  resistance  to  oppression,  in  regard  to  the  decrees  rendered  against 
the  department  of  the  Rhone-et-Loire  and  the  city  of  Lyons.  The 
Convention  would  accept  no  other  terms  than  entire  submission, 
and  had  no  idea  of  allowing  the  existence  at  Lyons  of  a  semi- 
royalist  republic,  animated  by  a  spirit  opposed  to  the  Mountain. 
Dubois-Crance,  after  having  prevented  a  junction  of  the  forces  from 
Lyons  and  Marseilles,  marched  upon  Lyons  with  the  few  soldiers 
who  could  be  spared  from  the  army  of  the  Alps.  On  the  8th  of 
June  he  posted  himself  with  a  few  cannon  and  five  thousand  sol- 
diers before  this  great  city.  General  Carteaux,  who  had  nearly  the 
same  force  at  his  disposal,  was  ordered  to  advance  from  Avignon 
upon  Marseilles.  In  both  these  cities  the  resistance  seemed  pass- 
ing from  Girondist  republicanism  to  the  counter-revolution.  At 
Lyons  the  two  Girondist  representatives,  Birotteau  and  Chasset, 
feeling  themselves  overshadowed  by  the  royalists,  had  left  the  city. 
At  Marseilles,  Eebecqui,  the  intimate  friend  of  Barbaroux,  the  man 
who  had  led  the  Marseillais  on  the  10th  of  August,  went  further; 
seeing  that  the  Gironde  was  about  to  be  absorbed  by  the  Moun- 
tain and  the  counter-revolution,  he  drowned  himself  in  despair. 

At  Marseilles  as  well  as  at  Lyons  the  reaction  had  shed  Moun- 
taineer blood  upon  the  scaffold.  Upon  Carteaux's  approach  the 
courage  of  the  Mountain  party  revived,  and  on  the  23d  of  August 
five  sections  rose  in  revolt  against  the  reactionary  authorities.  On 
the  24th  and  25th  there  was  fighting  in  Marseilles,  but  the  fate 
of  the  city  was  decided  outside  its  walls  by  the  capture  of  a  camp 
of  reactionary  leaders  on  the  Septemes  heights.  The  city  author- 


1793.]  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  493 

ities  fled,  and  Carteaux  entered  Marseilles.  It  was  high  time,  for 
the  city  and  harbor  were  just  ready  to  surrender  to  the  English 
admiral  who  was  cruising  along  the  ProvenQal  coasts. 

The  treason  prevented  at  Marseilles  could  not  be  averted  at 
Toulon.  The  counter-revolution  held  control  of  this  great  military 
harbor  of  the  South.  The  majority  of  the  Toulon  sections  had  been 
won  over  through  the  influence  of  naval  officers,  for  the  most  part 
enemies  of  the  Eepublic.  The  ex-nobles  there  who  had  not  emi- 
grated had  used  all  their  influence  to  thwart  the  military  and  naval 
operations  of  the  Revolution.  All  patriotic  officials  had  been 
deposed  and  replaced  by  counter-revolutionists.  The  officers  had 
for  a  long  time  corresponded  with  the  naval  department,  hypocriti- 
cally protesting  their  attachment  to  the  Eepublic.  But,  meantime, 
they  had  seduced  the  workmen  in  the  harbor  and  the  sailors  by 
paying  them  in  gold  instead  of  assignats ;  they  had  also  executed 
the  leading  Toulon  Jacobins  and  imprisoned  the  emissaries  of  the 
Convention,  after  loading  them  with  insults.  At  news  of  Carteaux's 
entrance  into  Marseilles,  Hood,  the  English  admiral,  offered  his 
assistance  if  Toulon  would  declare  for  the  monarchical  government, 
and  place  her  harbor  at  his  disposal  until  peace  was  declared,  when 
both  the  harbor  and  flotilla  would  be  restored  to  France.  The 
ruling  committee  of  Toulon  accepted  these  terms;  Louis  XVII. 
was  proclaimed  by  the  sections,  and  arrangements  were  made  to 
open  the  port  to  the  English. 

A  French  admiral,  Saint-Julien,  whose  name  should  live  in 
history,  tried  to  prevent  this  crime  and  disgrace,  but  his  resistance 
was  unavailing;  he  could  only  make  his  escape  with  a  few  soldiers 
and  sailors.  The  French  flotilla  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  arsenals, 
the  war-material  and  supplies  for  the  army  in  Italy,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy  (August  28).  Pierre  Bayle,  one  of  the  two 
representatives  imprisoned  at  Toulon,  committed  suicide  in  his 
cell;  Beauvais,  the  other,  suffered  the  harshest  captivity. 

The  Toulon  catastrophe  produced  a  double  effect  in  Paris ;  while 
it  maddened  patriots  with  rage  and  desire  for  revenge,  it  raised 
the  hopes  of  the  counter-revolutionists.  Some  of  the  most  ardent 


494  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVI. 

royalists  began  to  make  demonstrations  in  the  theatres;  others, 
more  politic,  leagued  themselves  with  the  anarchists  of  the  Eveche, 
and  goaded  on  the  sections  to  the  wildest  acts  of  frenzy. 

On  the  16th  of  September  the  Faubourg  Saint- Antoine  sur- 
rounded the  Hotel  de  Ville,  clamoring  for  "  Bread  ! "  Hebert  and 
Chaumette  appeased  the  mob  by  vociferous  harangues  against  rich 
men  and  monopolists,  and  by  promising  to  raise  a  revolution- 
ary army  with  orders  to  scour  the  country,  empty  the  granaries, 
and  put  the  grain  within  reach  of  the  people.  "  The  next  thing 
will  be  a  guillotine  for  the  monopolists,"  added  Hebert.  This 
had  been  demanded  by  memorials  from  the  most  ultra  provincial 
Jacobins. 

The  next  day  the  Convention  witnessed  the  terrible  reaction  of 
this  scene.  At  the  opening  of  the  session  Merlin  de  Douai  pro- 
posed and  carried  a  vote  for  the  division  of  the  revolutionary 
tribunal  into  four  sections,  in  order  to  remedy  the  dilatoriness  com- 
plained of  by  Eobespierre  and  the  Jacobins.  The  municipality 
soon  arrived,  followed  by  a  great  crowd ;  Chaumette,  in  a  furious 
harangue,  demanded  a  revolutionary  army  with  a  travelling  guillo- 
tine. The  ferocious  Billaud-Varennes  declared  that  this  was  not 
enough,  and  that  all  suspected  persons  must  be  arrested  immediately. 

Danton  interposed  with  the  powerful  eloquence  of  his  palmy 
days ;  he  approved  of  an  immediate  decree  for  the  formation  of  a 
revolutionary  army,  but  made  no  mention  of  the  guillotine.  He 
demanded  a  vote  of  one  hundred  million  francs  for  the  manufacture 
of  arms,  so  that  every  man  might  have  his  gun.  He  proposed  that 
the  Paris  sections  should  assemble  twice  a  week  to  take  measures 
for  the  safety  of  the  country,  and  that  an  indemnity  of  forty  sous 
should  be  paid  to  needy  citizens  who  should  attend  these  meetings. 
Danton's  words  were  impetuous,  but  his  ideas  were  politic  and 
deliberate.  His  motions  were  carried,  amid  general  acclamation. 
But  the  violent  propositions  of  Billaud-Varennes  and  others  were 
also  carried.  The  decree  forbidding  domiciliary  visits  and  night 
arrests,  which  had  been  due  to  the  Girondists,  was  revoked.  A 
deputation  from  the  Jacobins  and  the  sections  demanded  the  in- 


1793.]  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  495 

dictment  of  the  "  monster"  Brissot  with  his  accomplices,  Vergniaud, 
Gensonne,  and  other  "  miscreants."  "  Lawgivers,"  said  the  spokes- 
man of  the  deputation,  "  let  the  Reign  of  Terror  be  the  order  of  the 
day  ! "  Barere,  in  the  name  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  ob- 
tained the  passage  of  a  decree  organizing  an  armed  force  to  restrain 
counter-revolutionists  and  protect* supplies.  Fear  led  him  to  unite 
with  the  most  violent,  and  to  adopt  the  great  motto  of  the  Paris 
Commune,  "  Let  the  Reign  of  Terror  be  the  order  of  the  day ! "  "The 
royalists  are  conspiring,"  he  said ;  "  they  want  blood.  Well,  they 
shall  have  that  of  the  conspirators,  of  the  Brissots  and  Marie  An- 
toinettes ! "  The  association  of  these  two  names  shows  what  frenzy 
prevailed  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 

The  next  day,  September  6,  two  of  the  most  formidable  Jacobins, 
the  cold,  implacable  Billaud-Varennes  and  the  fiery  Collot  d'Her- 
bois,  were  added  to  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety.  Danton  per- 
sisted in  his  refusal  to  return  to  it.  This  proves  how  mistaken  the 
Girondists  had  been  in  accusing  him  of  aspiring  to  the  dictatorship. 
He  kept  aloof  from  the  Committee  chiefly  because  he  knew  that 
they  were  lost,  and  did  not  wish  to  contribute  to  their  fall  Before 
leaving  the  ministry  Garat  had  tried  to  prevent  the  Girondists  from 
being  brought  to  trial ;  upon  making  known  his  wish  to  Robes- 
pierre and  Danton,  he  found  Robespierre  implacable,  while  Danton, 
with  tears  coursing  down  his  rugged  cheeks,  replied,  "  I  cannot  save 
them  ! " 

The  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  through  whose  hands  passed  all 
investigations  concerning  deputies  and  generals,  hoping  to  aid  the 
Girondists  by  delay,  had  not  taken  immediate  action  upon  the 
decree  stating  that  there  were  grounds  for  indictment  against  the 
Girondists  leaders.  This  Committee  was  reorganized  in  favor  of  the 
Reign  of  Terror.  On  the  17th  of  September  a  law  for  the  arrest  of 
suspected  persons  was  passed.  It  was  appallingly  vague,  and  left  a 
terrible  latitude  to  the  revolutionary  committees  intrusted  with  its 
execution.  The  only  condition  imposed  upon  them  was  to  send  the 
names  of  the  arrested  persons  and  the  reasons  for  their  arrest  to  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety. 


496  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVI. 

On  the  10th  of  October  Saint-Just,  in  the  name  of  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety,  read  to  the  Assembly  an  important  report  upon 
the  situation  of  the  Eepublic.  It  was  violent  and  menacing  to 
others  beside  the  enemies  of  the  Mountain ;  Hebert  and  his  gang 
might  well  tremble.  He  inveighed  not  only  against  those  who 
were  plundering  the  government,  but  against  the  whole  administra- 
tion. "  The  ministry  is  made  up  of  documents,"  he  said ;  "  an  im- 
mense amount  is  written  there,  and  nothing  is  done.  The  bureaus 
have  replaced  the  monarchy." 

He  saw  clearly  and  deeply  into  this  growing  evil.  He  wished 
to  simplify  and  renovate  things.  "Those  who  revolutionize  the 
world,"  said  he,  "  and  who  seek  to  benefit  it,  should  sleep  only  in 
the  grave.  We  need  new  military  institutions ;  those  of  the  mon- 
archy are  no  longer  suited  to  us.  Our  war-system  should  be  active 
and  impetuous,  like  our  genius." 

In  order  to  overthrow  the  influence  of  the  bureaus,  he  designed 
at  once  to  divide  the  subordinate  authority  among  the  revolution- 
ary committees,  and  to  concentrate  the  higher  powers  nominally  in 
the  convention,  but  really  in  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety.  He 
ended  by  declaring  that  the  government  ought  to  remain  revolu- 
tionary until  peace.  This  was  indefinitely  to  delay  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  Constitution,  and  openly  to  declare  dictatorship.  Min- 
isters, generals,  and  all  organized  bodies  were  to  be  placed  under 
the  surveillance  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety ;  the  generals-in- 
chief,  after  being  proposed  by  this  Committee,  were  to  be  appointed 
by  the  Convention. 

The  Convention  acquiesced,  and  decreed  the  arrest,  until  peace 
was  declared,  of  all  foreigners  who  were  the  subjects  of  hostile 
powers.  As  almost  all  Europe  was  assailing  France,  and  no  one 
defending  it,  not  even  the  United  States  of  America,  her  first  im- 
pulse of  universal  sympathy  was  followed  by  general  distrust. 

Saint-Just's  report  had  been  preceded  on  the  3d  of  October  by  a 
report  from  the  new  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  concluding  with 
the  indictment  of  forty  deputies ;  thirty-nine  were  Girondists  or 
friends  of  the  Gironde ;  the  fortieth  was  the  ex-Duke  of  Orleans. 


1793.]  THE  REIGN  OF   TERROR.  497 

Twenty-one  of  these  thirty-nine  were  now  in  the  hands  of  their 
enemies,  and  of  these  twenty-one  only  nine  belonged  to  the  first 
deputies  indicted  on  the  2d  of  June ;  the  remainder  had  left  Paris 
hoping  to  organize  outside  resistance,  and  had  been  declared  out- 
lawed. The  deputies  subsequently  added  to  this  number  were 
members  of  the  Eight  who  had  signed  protests  against  the  violation 
of  the  national  representation  on  that  fatal  day. 

More  than  forty  others  had  signed  these  protests ;  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety  demanded  their  temporary  arrest,  but  did  not  ven- 
ture to  indict  them.  A  deputy  demanded  that  they  also  should  be 
sent  to  the  revolutionary  tribunal  Robespierre  opposed  it,  saying 
that  the  Convention  ought  not  to  seek  to  multiply  culprits,  but  to 
attack  only  the  leaders  of  factions.  This  partial  clemency  indicated 
in  him  a  new  political  bias.  While  pitilessly  destroying  the  heads 
of  the  Gironde,  he  saved  the  remnant  of  the  Right,  who  had  given 
him  no  umbrage,  and  who  might  some  day,  with  the  Plain  (the 
Centre),  protect  him  against  the  Mountain  itself. 

It  was  decided  at  the  same  session  to  bring  the  forty  deputies, 
together  with  Marie  Antoinette,  to  trial  The  Jacobins  and  the 
commune  had  long  been  demanding  the  trial  of  the  unhappy  queen, 
and  were  raising  loud  clamors  over  the  plots  for  her  deliverance. 
She  might  perhaps  have  escaped  from  the  Temple  if  she  would 
have  consented  to  leave  her  children.  During  July  a  sorrow  equal 
to  that  of  the  21st  of  January  had  been  inflicted  on  her ;  she  had 
been  separated  from  her  young  son  under  the  pretence  that  she 
treated  him  like  a  king,  and  was  bringing  him  up  to  make  "  a  ty- 
rant "  of  him.  The  child  was  placed  in  another  part  of  the  Temple, 
and  his  education  was  intrusted  to  a  vulgar  and  brutal  shoemaker, 
named  Simon. 

Nevertheless,  the  fate  of  Marie  Antoinette  at  this  epoch  was  still 
doubtful ;  neither  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  nor  the  ministry 
desired  her  death.  While  Lebrun,  the  friend  of  the  Girondists,  was 
minister  of  foreign  affairs,  a  project  had  been  formed  which  would 
have  saved  her  life.  Danton  knew  of  and  aided  it.  He  was  sup- 
posed to  have  promised  his  first  wife,  upon  her  death-bed,  to  save 
32 


498  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVI. 

the  queen  and  her  children.  This  plan  was  a  negotiation  with 
Venice,  Tuscany,  and  Naples,  the  three  Italian  States  yet  neutral, 
who  were  to  pledge  themselves  to  maintain  their  wavering  neutral- 
ity, in  consideration  of  a  guaranty  of  the  safety  of  Marie  Antoinette 
and  her  family. 

Two  diplomatic  agents  who  afterward  held  high  posts  in  France, 
Marat  and  Semonville,  were  intrusted  with  this  affair.  As  they 
were  crossing  from  Switzerland  into  Italy,  they  were  arrested,  in 
violation  of  the  law  of  nations,  upon  the  neutral  territory  of  the 
Orisons  by  an  Austrian  detachment  (July  25). 

It  might  have  been  supposed  that  the  Austrian  government  upon 
learning  the  object  of  their  mission  would  hasten  to  release  them ; 
on  the  contrary,  they  were  loaded  with  chains  and  sent  to  the 
pestilential  dungeons  of  Mantua.  The  young  Emperor  Francis  II., 
the  most  unfeeling  of  men,  and  his  new  minister  Thugut,  an  un- 
scrupulous and  heartless  intriguer,  thought  far  more  of  drawing 
Naples,  Florence,  and  Venice  into  their  coalition,  than  of  saving  the 
lives  of  the  aunt  and  cousins  of  the  Emperor. 

At  tidings  of  the  arrest  of  the  French  envoys,  Marie  Antoinette 
was  separated  from  her  daughter  and  sister-in-law  Elisabeth,  and 
transferred  to  the  Conciergerie.  On  the  14th  of  October  she  ap- 
peared before  the  revolutionary  tribunal.  To  the  accusation  of  the 
public  prosecutor,  Fouquier-Tinville,  made  up  of  calumnies  against 
her  private  life,  and  for  the  most  part  well-founded  imputations 
against  her  political  conduct,  she  opposed  a  plausible  defence,  which 
effaced  as  far  as  possible  her  part  in  the  late  government.  She 
denied  everything  which  could  implicate  her,  declared  that  she  had 
only  obeyed  her  husband,  asserted  that  she  had  had  no  cor- 
respondence with  foreign  powers  since  the  outbreak  of  the  Eevolu- 
tion,  and  fought  to  the  utmost  of  her  ability  for  the  life  which  was 
escaping  her. 

She  sprang  up  with  a  heart-breaking  cry  when  Hebert  accused 
her  of  having  corrupted  the  morals  of  her  young  son.  "  I  appeal  to 
every  mother  here  ! "  she  cried,  turning  to  the  audience.  A  shudder 
of  indignation  ran  through  the  throng.  The  infamous  Hebert  was 
silenced. 


1793.]  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  499 

The  following  questions  were  put  to  the  jurors :  "  Has  Marie 
Antoinette  aided  in  movements  designed  to  assist  the  foreign  ene- 
mies of  the  Republic  to  open  French  territory  to  them  and  to 
facilitate  the  progress  of  their  arms  ?  Has  she  taken  part  in  a  con- 
spiracy tending  to  incite  civil  war  ? " 

The  answer  was  in  the  affirmative,  and  the  sentence  of  death  was 
passed  on  her. 

The  decisive  portions  which  we  now  possess  of  the  queen's  cor- 
respondence with  Austria  had  not  then  been  made  pxiblic;  but 
enough  was  known  to  leave  no  doubt  of  her  guilt,  which  had  the 
same  moral  excuses  as  that  of  her  husband. 

She  wrote  a  farewell  letter  to  her  sister-in-law,  Madame  Elisa- 
beth, in  which  she  repeated  the  sentiments  of  pardon  and  forget- 
fulness  expressed  in  the  last  will  and  testament  of  Louis  XVI., 
and  poured  forth  her  maternal  sorrows  in  a  most  touching  man- 
ner. She  met  death  with  courage  and  resignation.  The  popu- 
lace who  had  hated  her  so  much  did  not  insult  her  last  mo- 
ments. 

Had  Marie  Antoinette  been  set  at  liberty,  and  allowed  to  end  her 
days  in  Austria,  she  would  have  left  in  France  only  a  deeply  and 
justly  unpopular  remembrance,  and  public  opinion  would  have 
held  her  responsible  for  her  husband's  fall  Her  tragic  death,  after 
so  many  sufferings,  has  exalted  her  memory  by  associating  it  with 
the  legend  of  the  "  martyr  king." 

A  week  after  the  queen's  death  the  Girondists  were  summoned 
before  the  revolutionary  tribunal  Brissot  and  Lasource  alone  had 
tried  to  escape  this  bloody  ordeal,  and  to  stir  up  resistance  against 
it  in  the  South.  Vergniaud,  Gensonne,  and  Valaze  remained  un- 
shaken in  their  resolve  to  await  trial.  Gensonne,  who  had  been 
placed  in  the  keeping  of  a  Swiss  whose  life  he  had  saved  on  the 
10th  of  August,  and  who  had  become  a  gendarme,  might  have  escaped, 
but  he  refused  to  profit  by  this  man's  gratitude.  As  early  as  the  2d 
of  June  he  had  drawn  up  a  sort  of  will,  in  which  he  foresaw  his 
fate  and  accepted  it,  "if  his  death  could  aid  in  establishing  the 
Republic." 


500  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVI. 

Among  the  deputies  added  to  those  indicted  on  the  2d  of  June 
were  the  brothers-in-law  Ducos  and  Boyer-Fonfrede,  two  talented 
and  courageous  young  Bordelais,  who  were  universally  loved  and 
esteemed.  Marat  himself  had  caused  their  names  to  be  expunged 
from  the  list  on  the  2d  of  June.  The  new  Committee  of  Public 
Safety,  made  up  of  fanatics  and  of  former  conservatives,  made  cruel 
by  terror,  was  more  pitiless  than  Marat. 

The  act  of  indictment  drawn  up  by  the  ex-Feuillant  Amar  was 
only  a  repetition  of  the  monstrous  calumnies  which  had  circulated 
through  the  clubs  and  the  journals.  Brissot  was  accused  of  having 
ruined  the  colonies  by  advocating  the  liberation  of  slaves,  and  of 
having  drawn  foreign  arms  upon  France  by  declaring  war  on 
kings. 

The  whole  trial  corresponded  to  this  beginning.  The  articles  of 
indictment  were  made  known  neither  to  the  accused  nor  to  their 
counsel.  The  minutes,  drawn  up  with  shameful  partiality,  con- 
tained a  full  record  of  the  evidence  against  the  accused,  but  fre- 
quently expurgated  their  replies.  There  was  no  real  evidence. 
The  so-called  evidence  was  nothing  but  long-winded  speeches,  in 
which  the  Paches,  Chaumettes,  Heberts,  Chabots,  and  others,  by 
turns  and  in  their  own  fashion,  attacked  the  Gironde.  The  clamors 
of  this  pack  of  sleuth-hounds  did  not  produce  the  expected  effect. 
The  clear  and  sensible  explanations  of  Brissot,  the  eloquence  of 
Vergniaud,  and  the  loyal  and  sympathetic  bearing  of  the  accused 
moved  all  present. 

Hebert  and  Chaumette  began  to  fear  that  their  victims  might 
escape  them.  On  the  evening  of  the  28th  they  hastened  to  the 
Jacobin  Club,  and  persuaded  the  society  to  agree  to  proceed  in 
a  body  to  the  Convention  the  next  day,  to  demand  the  sentence 
of  the  deputies  within  twenty-four  hours.  On  the  29th  the  Jaco- 
bins appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  Convention,  and  called  for  a  decree 
giving  the  jurors  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal  the  right  to  bring 
the  proceedings  to  a  close  as  soon  as  they  believed  themselves 
sufficiently  enlightened.  Eobespierre  and  Barere  supported  the 
Jacobin  demand.  Upon  Kobespierre's  motion  it  was  decreed  that 


1793.]  THE  REIGN  OF   TERROR.  501 

after  three  days'  proceedings,  the  jurors  might  declare  themselves 
ready  to  render  their  verdict. 

The  next  day  the  jurors  availed  themselves  of  their  privilege, 
and  declared  themselves  sufficiently  informed,  although  they  had 
not  heard  the  evidence  for  acquittal,  neither  the  accused  nor  their 
counsel  having  been  allowed  to  plead  their  cause. 

Brissot,  Vergniaud,  Gensonne",  Valaze,  Bishop  Fauchet,  Ducos, 
Boyer-Fonfrede,  Lasource,  and  their  friends  were  declared  guilty 
of  having  conspired  against  the  unity  and  indivisibility  of  the 
Republic,  and  against  the  liberty  and  safety  of  the  French  people. 

As  the  president  pronounced  the  sentence  of  death,  a  cry  was 
heard  in  the  audience  :  "  My  God,  my  God,  I  am  their  murderer ! 
My  '  Brissot  Unveiled  '  has  slain  them  ! " 

It  was  the  voice  of  Camille  Desmoulins.  He  now  understood  the 
scope  of  the  fatal  pamphlets  through  which  he  had  made  himself 
the  instrument  of  Eobespierre's  hatreds,  and  from  which  the 
charges  of  the  indictment  had  been  drawn. 

Danton,  for  his  part,  who  had  not  been  an  accomplice  in  their 
death,  had  retired  to  his  mother's  home  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  that 
he  might  not  be  a  witness  thereof. 

The  condemned  were  brought  back  to  hear  their  sentence.  The 
greater  part  of  them  rose  up  with  a  common  impulse,  and  cried, 
"  We  are  innocent !  People,  they  are  deceiving  you ! " 

The  crowd  remained  motionless  and  silent. 

Brissot,  who  had  passed  the  time  of  his  captivity  in  writing 
his  Memoirs,  in  which  he  seemed  less  concerned  about  his  ap- 
proaching death  than  one  of  the  great  ideas  of  his  life,  the  abo- 
lition of  negro  slavery,  let  his  head  fall  on  his  breast,  absorbed 
in  meditation.  Vergniaud  seemed  to  experience  no  other  feeling 
than  weariness  and  disdain.  The  brothers-in-law  Ducos  and  Fon- 
frede  threw  themselves  into  each  other's  arms ;  Bishop  Fauchet 
seemed  engaged  in  prayer.  The  Protestant  minister,  Lasource, 
confronted  the  judges  and  said,  "I  die  upon  the  day  when  the 
people  have  lost  their  reason ;  it  will  be  your  turn  upon  the  day 
when  they  recover  it ! "  Several  cried,  "  Vive  la  Ee'publique ! " 


502  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVI. 

One,  the  Norman  Valaze,  said  nothing,  but  plunged  a  dagger  in  his 
heart. 

The  other  twenty  left  the  tribunal  singing  the  Marseillaise :  — 

"  Centre  nous  de  la  tyrannie 
Le  couteau  sanglant  est  leve." 

At  midnight  they  partook  of  a  last  repast,  passing  the  rest  of  the 
night  in  converse  about  their  native  land,  their  remnant  of  life  being 
cheered  by  news  of  victory  and  pleasant  sallies  from  young  Ducos, 
who  might  have  escaped,  but  preferred  to  share  his  friend  Fon- 
frede's  fate.  Vergniaud  had  been  given  a  subtle  poison  by  Con- 
dorcet,  but  threw  it  away,  choosing  to  die  with  his  companions. 
One  of  his  noble  utterances  gives  us  the  key  to  his  life.  "  Others 
sought  to  consummate  the  Revolution  by  terror;  I  would  accom- 
plish it  by  love." 

Next  day,  October  31,  at  noon,  the  prisoners  were  led  forth,  and 
as  the  five  carts  containing  them  left  the  Conciergerie,  they  struck 
up  the  national  hymn  :  — 

"  Aliens,  enfants  de  la  patrie, 

Le  jour  de  gloire  est  arrive  ! " 
Alternating  it  with 

"  Plut6t  la  mort  que  1'esclavage  ! 
C'est  la  devise  des  Fra^ais,  .  .  .  .  " 

and  shouts  of  "Long  live  the  Republic."  The  sounds  died  away 
as  their  number  decreased,  but  did  not  cease  until  the  last  of  the 
twenty-one  mounted  the  fatal  platform. 

These  generous  and  devoted  fathers  of  the  Republic  had  power  to 
render  its  infancy  illustrious,  and  to  start  it  on  its  career,  but  could 
not  guide  it  beyond  a  certain  point ;  they  were  its  faithful  servants 
until  it  immolated  them,  and  never  for  an  instant  doubted  its 
future.  Doubt  was  for  those  who  survived  them  through  months 
of  anguish,  and  perished  yet  more  frightfully.  The  memory  of  the 
Girondists  is  forever  sacred  to  friends  of  liberty  in  France  and 
throughout  the  world. 

Some  few  fanatics  and  hirelings  of  the  commune  howled,  as  they 
passed,  "  Down  with  the  traitors  ! "  but  the  mass  of  the  people  were 


1793.]  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  GIRONDISTS.  503 

sad  at  heart,  and  complaints  were  sent  in  to  the  Jacobins  next  day, 
that  there  had  been  an  outcry  in  the  market-places  against  "  the 
wretches  who  caused  the  death  of  the  men  guillotined  yesterday." 

The  murderers  of  the  Girondists  were  not  likely  to  spare  the 
illustrious  woman  who  was  at  once  the  inspiration  and  the  honor  of 
that  party,  and  the  very  same  day  Madame  Roland,  who  had  been 
for  five  months  a  prisoner  at  St.  Pelagie  and  the  Abbaye,  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Conciergerie.  Hebert  and  his  followers  had  long  clam- 
ored for  her  head.  During  her  captivity  she  wrote  her  Memoirs, 
which,  unfortunately,  have  not  been  preserved  complete ;  no  other 
souvenir  of  the  Revolution  equals  this,  although  it  is  not  always 
reliable,  for  Madame  Roland  had  feminine  weaknesses  of  intellect, 
despite  her  masculine  strength  of  soul :  she  was  prejudiced  against 
all  who  disagreed  with  her,  and  regarded  caution  and  compromise 
with  a  noble  but  impolitic  scorn.  Her  opinions  of  the  men  and 
events  of  her  day,  that  seemed  so  small  to  her  and  are  so  great  to 
us,  are  singularly  interesting,  because  she  had  so  high  an  ideal  that 
none  could  hope  to  seem  other  than  dwarfed  and  commonplace  to 
her.  Her  memoirs  reveal  mental  struggles  far  more  moving  and 
dramatic  than  any  portrayed  by  her  master  Rousseau  in  his  "  Nou- 
velle  Heloise,"  she  and  her  husband  being  divided  by  moral  nature 
no  less  than  by  difference  of  age.  He  was  a  good  common-sense 
character,  but  was  lacking  in  grace  and  gentleness ;  he  could  not  re- 
spond to  the  poetic  outbursts  of  her  passionate  souL  She  respected 
and  loved  him  as  a  father,  not  otherwise,  and  long  kept  passion  at 
bay,  yielding  to  its  influence  at  a  somewhat  advanced  age,  falling 
desperately  in  love  with  a  man,  who,  if  not  her  intellectual  equal, 
yet  possessed  those  gifts  of  grace,  elegance,  and  fire,  of  which  her 
husband  was  destitute.  We  allude  to  the  proud  and  melancholy 
Buzot,  a  man  whose  unhappy  fate  was  stamped  upon  his  face. 

Madame  Roland  believed  in  the  legality  of  divorce,  but  never  for 
an  instant  thought  it  right  for  her,  the  wife  of  a  good  man,  to  break 
a  bond  strengthened  by  maternity  merely  to  satisfy  her  passion,  ad- 
mitting no  happiness  beyond  the  pale  of  duty.  Buzot  agreed  with 
her,  and  the  two  heroic  natures  upheld  each  other  in  the  path  of 


504  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVI. 

virtue,  though  at  so  frightful  a  cost,  that  a  prison  or  death  itself 
appeared  to  her  as  a  relief.  Still,  she  was  a  mother,  and  clung  to 
life,  writing  for  pardon  to  Eobespierre,  who  had  been  her  own  and 
her  husband's  friend  in  1791,  and  whom  she  had  vainly  tried  to 
reconcile  to  Brissot  and  the  Girondists ;  but,  on  reflection,  she  de- 
stroyed her  letter. 

The  Girondist  trial  once  begun,  she  knew  that  hers  must  follow ; 
a  false  rumor  led  her  to  believe  Buzot  a  prisoner  in  the  Gironde, 
and  she  resolved  to  cheat  the  scaffold  by  committing  suicide,  which 
would  prevent  the  confiscation  of  her  goods,  they  then  reverting  to 
her  child.  She  wrote  her  "  Last  Thoughts,"  setting  forth  her  reasons 
for  suicide,  and  bidding  farewell  to  her  husband,  daughter,  and 
friends,  and  added  these  lines,  whose  mystery  has  been  removed  by 
the  discovery  of  her  letters:  "And  you  whom  I  dare  not  name! .... 
You  whom  the  wildest  passion  did  not  lead  to  burst  the  barriers  of 
virtue,  will  you  grieve  that  I  precede  you  to  a  land  where  we  can 
love  without  crime,  where  nothing  can  prevent  our  union  ?  .  .  .  . 
In  leaving  earth,  we  but  approach  each  other " 

Then  comes  this  religious  invocation :  "  Supreme  Being,  Soul  of 
the  Universe,  First  Cause  of  all  that  is  great,  good,  and  blessed,  in 
whose  existence  I  believe,  because  I  must  proceed  from  something 
better  than  aught  on  earth,  I  am  about  to  return  to  thy  essence ! " 

She  then  wrote  to  a  scientific  friend  named  Bosc,  for  poison,  but 
he  dissuaded  her  from  her  purpose,  not  through  religious  scruples, 
however,  for  believers  in  God  and  immortality  at  that  time  had  the 
old  Grecian  rather  than  the  modern  Christian  feeling,  that  man  has 
no  right  to  destroy  the  life  he  did  not  give.  He  urged  rather  the 
example  she  should  set,  her  duty  to  her  country,  the  value  of  mar- 
tyrdom in  a  good  cause ;  and  she  yielded  and  awaited  death. 

The  royalist  Count  Beugnot,  who  filled  several  important  offices 
under  the  Empire  and  Restoration,  and  was  a  prisoner  at  the  Con- 
ciergerie  with  her,  gives  a  touching  account  of  her  life.  Social  and 
political  criminals  were  shut  up  together,  Madame  Roland's  cell  be- 
ing surrounded  by  thieves  and  disreputable  women,  who  fought  and 
brawled  day  and  night,  and  over  whom  she  won  a  great  ascendancy. 


MADAME  ROLAND. 


1793.]  THE  DEATH   OF  THE  GIRONDISTS.  505 

"  Whenever  she  entered  the  courtyard,"  says  Beugnot, "  quiet  reigned, 
and  these  women,  regardless  of  all  other  influence,  were  restrained 
by  the  fear  of  displeasing  her.  She  helped  the  needy,  advised,  con- 
soled, and  comforted  all.  They  crowded  around  her  as  a  tutelary 
goddess,  eager  to  hear  her  musical  voice."  The  18th  Brumaire  (No- 
vember 10),  she  was  summoned  before  the  revolutionary  tribunal ; 
when  she  left  her  cell,  clad  in  white,  her  dark  hair  floating  loosely 
over  her  shoulders,  a  smile  on  her  lips  and  her  face  sparkling  with 
life  and  animation,  all  these  women  fell  at  her  feet,  kissing  her 
hands,  and  recommending  her  to  Heaven's  care.  "  She  replied  kindly 
to  all,  bidding  them  be  brave,  peaceful,  and  hopeful" 

She  was  condemned  in  advance,  not  being  allowed  a  word  in  her 
own  defence,  and  was  declared  guilty  of  being  an  author  or  accom- 
plice "of  a  monstrous  conspiracy  against  the  unity  and  indivisi- 
bility of  the  Republic."  She  heard  her  sentence  calmly,  saying  to 
the  judges :  "  You  deem  me  worthy  the  fate  of  the  great  men  you 
have  murdered.  I  will  try  to  display  the  same  courage  on  the  scaf- 
fold." She  was  taken  directly  to  the  Place  de  la  Revolution,  a  man 
condemned  for  treason  being  placed  in  the  same  cart,  who  was  over- 
whelmed with  terror.  She  passed  the  mournful  journey  in  sooth- 
ing him,  and  on  reaching  the  scaffold  bid  him  mount  first,  that 
his  sufferings  might  not  be  prolonged.  As  she  took  her  place  in 
turn,  her  eye  fell  on  a  colossal  statue  of  Liberty,  erected  August  10, 
1793. 

"0  Liberty,"  she  cried,  "what  crimes  are  committed  in  thy 
name ! " 

Some  say  that  she  said,  "0  Liberty,  how  they  have  deceived  thee ! " 

Thus  died  the  noblest  woman  in  history  since  the  incomparable 
Joan,  who  saved  France !  Madame  Roland  did  not  save  liberty,  but 
died  gloriously  for  it,  leaving  a  triumphant  example  to  posterity  of 
grandeur  of  soul  and  republican  virtues. 

Her  husband  was  concealed  at  Rouen  for  some  months,  but  hear- 
ing of  his  wife's  death,  forsook  his  shelter,  and  his  bleeding  corpse 
was  found  two  days  later  pierced  with  two  wounds,  and  a  note  in 
his  pocket,  saying,  "  Whoever  finds  me  lying  here,  respect  my  re- 


506  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVI. 

mains.     They  are  those  of  an  honest  man ! "    He  might  have  added, 
"  of  a  man  of  lofty  character  and  courage." 

He  has  been  unjustly  accused  of  complicity  in  the  September 
massacres,  which  he  was  utterly  powerless  to  prevent. 

Buzot  survived  Madame  Roland  several  months,  in  the  vain  hope 
of  revenge,  his  tragic  death  occurring  just  previous  to  that  of 
Robespierre. 

The  bloody  tribunal  never  paused ;  famous  men  of  every  party 
succeeded  each  other  at  the  fatal  bar,  the  ex-Duke  of  Orleans  among 
them,  but  four  days  earlier  than  Madame  Roland.  He  was  not  an  ad- 
mirable character,  but  by  no  means  such  a  monster  as  many  royalist 
writers  paint  him.  He  was  pleasure-loving,  selfish,  and  indifferent, 
not  ambitious ;  that  he  left  to  the  intriguers  around  him.  His  one 
utterly  odious  act  was  to  vote  for  his  poor  cousin's  death ;  but 
it  was  not  for  the  Jacobins  to  punish  such  a  crime.  Nor  had  he 
more  share  in  Dumouriez's  betrayal  than  in  the  Girondists'  imagi- 
nary plots.  He  lacked  mental  not  physical  courage,  and  died 
with  indifference. 

The  day  after  Madame  Roland's  trial  began  that  of  the  venerable 
Bailli,  ex-mayor  of  Paris  and  ex-president  of  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly, a  man  who  played  a  great  part  early  in  the  Revolution, 
but  faded  out  of  sight  with  the  constituent  power.  The  affray  on 
the  Champ  de  Mars,  July  17,  1791,  had  left  resentment  rankling 
in  Parisian  minds,  which  now  revived  fiercely.  In  point  of  fact, 
neither  Bailli  nor  Lafayette  gave  the  order  to  fire  on  the  people ; 
but  Bailli,  partly  through  weakness,  partly  through  mistaken  gener- 
osity, accepted  the  responsibility  of  evils  he  did  not  cause.  Refine- 
ments of  cruelty  were  added  to  his  sentence.  His  execution  was  to 
take  place,  not  on  the  Place  de  la  Revolution,  but  on  the  Champ  de 
Mars,  the  scene  of  what  they  called  his  crime ;  but  when  he  reached 
the  spot,  the  hireling  mob  cried  out  that  the  Field  of  the  Federa- 
tion should  never  be  soiled  by  the  blood  of  such  a  criminal,  and  the 
scaffold  was  removed  to  a  neighboring  ditch,  where  the  illustrious 
old  man  patiently  awaited  the  end  of  his  torture,  in  an  icy  November 
storm,  amid  jeers  and  insults,  uttering  one  phrase  worthy  of  record 


1793.]  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  GIRONDISTS.  507 

in  history  :  "  I  die  for  the  session  of  the  Tennis  Court,  not  for  the 
day  on  the  Champ  de  Mars." 

He  and  many  others  were  persuaded  that  the  enemies  of  the 
Eevolution  were  doing  their  utmost  to  drive  it  to  wild  excesses, 
to  dishonor  and  destroy  it.  The  counter-revolutionists  hated  the 
men  of  1789  beyond  everything.  It  has  always  been  thought  that 
the  wretches  who  prolonged  Bailli's  agonies  were  in  other  than 
Jacobin  pay.  The  -execution  of  the  man  who  presided  at  the  oath 
of  the  Tennis  Court  was  sacrilege  to  the  Eevolution.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  another  great  name  of  1789,  Barnave  (November  29). 
When  the  Girondists,  who  founded  the  Eepublic,  were  cut  down  as 
its  enemies,  Barnave,  who  tried  to  prevent  its  advent,  could  not 
hope  to  escape,  his  relations  with  the  court  since  its  return  to 
Varennes  insuring  his  ruin. 

Manuel,  an  ex-agent  of  the  Commune,  and  an  ardent  Jacobin, 
who  left  the  Convention  when  it  condemned  Louis  XVI.,  perished 
in  the  November  storm,  and,  with  him,  two  distinguished  members 
of  the  Constituent  Assembly  and  the  Convention,  Kersaint,  the 
Breton,  and  Eabaud-Saint-Etienne,  a  Protestant  minister.  Duport- 
Dutertre,  an  ex-minister,  was  also  slain,  and  Eoland's  colleague, 
Clavieres,  forestalled  the  scaffold  by  suicide.  Madame  Dubarry, 
Louis  XVI.'s  mistress,  the  relic  of  an  age  of  frivolous  vice  amid 
these  new  and  awful  times,  was  executed  December  17,  her  cries 
and  frantic  struggles  with  the  headsman  startling  the  crowd,  so  long 
accustomed  to  stoic  death-scenes. 

The  Eeign  of  Terror  reaped  less  famous  heads  throughout  France, 
but  such  catastrophes  belong  to  civil  war,  and  we  must  pass  from 
the  scaffold  to  the  battle-field,  and  follow  the  armies  of  the  Conven- 
tion in  their  sad  victories  over  the  insurgent  French,  where  we  shall 
witness  other  and  stingless  victories  won  over  combined  kings  by 
revolutionary  France. 


608  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued}.  —  VICTORY.  • —  CARNOT.  —  HONDSCHOOTE 

AND  WATTIGNIES. HOCHE.  —  GERMANS  DRIVEN  FROM  ALSACE.  — 

KLE"BER  AND  MARCEAU.  —  LA  VENDEE  CONQUERED.  —  TAKING  OF 
LYONS.  —  BONAPARTE.  —  ENGLISH  DRIVEN  FROM  TOULON. 

August  to  December,  1703. 

IN  the  last  chapter  we  saw  the  Republic  spilling  her  most  pre- 
cious blood  in  civil  discord ;  we  shall  now  pass  through  even 
bloodier  scenes,  though  the  blood  now  flowed  to  save  the  country. 
The  chief  actor  in  this  thrilling  drama  was  of  another  stamp  from 
the  stormy  orators  and  impassioned  tribunes  who  had  hitherto 
played  the  leading  parts  in  the  Revolution.  Carnot  was  a  captain 
of  engineers,  forty  years  old,  modest  and  sedate,  the  author  of  valu- 
able essays  on  mathematics  and  the  art  of  fortification ;  his  republi- 
can ideas  won  him  a  seat  in  the  Assembly.  He  resembled  the 
Girondists  in  moderation,  but  appreciated  the  spirit  of  the  Moun- 
taineers. Being  absent  from  Paris  on  the  2d  of  June,  he  was 
luckily  reserved  until  a  military  chief  and  organizer  was  needed. 
Barere  at  first  thought  he  had  found  his  man  in  Prieur,  also  an 
officer  in  the  engineers  and  a  deputy  from  the  Cote  d'Or.  "  There 
is  but  one  man  who  can  do  the  work,"  said  Prieur,  "  and  his  name 
is  Carnot.  I  will  be  his  second."  Both  were  summoned  before  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety,  and  Carnot  undertook  the  charge 
of  the  war ;  Prieur  was  to  collect  arms,  ammunition,  and  other  sup- 
plies, for  the  poor  soldiers  were  utterly  destitute.  All  the  scientists 
of  the  day,  Monge,  Berthollet,  Guyton  de  Morveau,  and  Fourcroy, 
offered  to  assist  him  in  the  manufacture  of  arms  and  powder. 
"  Parisian  cellars,"  say  the  newspapers,  "  furnish  the  Republic  with 


1793.]  CARNOT.  509 

means  to  conquer  tyrants."  Every  family  washed  the  damp  walls 
and  floor  of  its  cellar  and  stable  to  extract  the  saltpetre,  Prieur 
having  issued  directions  for  so  doing,  which  were  read  aloud  once 
a  week  in  public  places.  Two  hundred  and  fifty- eight  forges  were 
kept  going  day  and  night  in  all  the  squares,  and  one  thousand  guns 
were  made  daily  in  Paris. 

The  Kequisition  worked  much  better  than  the  levy  of  three  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  —  fresh  .forces  pouring  in  from  every  side ; 
a  military  school  was  established  for  the  hasty  instruction  of  under- 
officers  and  such  soldiers  as  seemed  most  intelligent.  "  The  Eevo- 
lution,"  says  Barere,  "  is  in  hot  haste ;  it  is  to  the  mind  of  man 
what  an  African  sun  is  to  vegetation." 

The  infantry  was  reorganized  into  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
demi-brigades  of  the  line  and  thirty  of  light  infantry  ;  the  old  white 
uniform  giving  place  to  the  blue  coat  of  1789  (August  12-29).  The 
artillery  and  engineers  were  also  remodelled;  the  cavalry  being 
almost  destroyed,  the  Requisition  renewed  it.  These  vast  efforts 
might  have  been  too  late  if  the  hostile  armies  had  marched  on 
Paris  directly  after  the  capture  of  Mayence  and  Valenciennes,  as 
the  emigrant  nobles  begged  their  leaders  to  do ;  but,  blinded  by 
vulgar  ambition,  the  Allied  Powers  neither  understood  the  Ptevolu- 
tion  nor  war  on  a  large  scale,  —  even  Pitt,  though  far  superior  to 
the  kings  of  Austria  and  Prussia  and  their  ministers,  taking  no 
broader  view  of  the  situation,  and  fancying  that  the  Ptevolution 
would  dissolve  into  anarchy  and  civil  war,  and  not  seeing  that,  on 
the  contrary,  it  was  gathering  strength  and  forming  a  government 
of  terrible  power. 

The  Austrian  general,  Cobourg,  not  daring  to  propose  a  march  on 
Paris,  presented  another  plan,  namely,  that  the  army  which  took  Va- 
lenciennes should  attack  the  strongholds  on  the  Sambre  and  Lower 
Meuse,  and  the  army  which  took  Mayence  should  enter  Lorraine, 
—  the  two  great  armies  thus  sustaining  each  other ;  but  England 
and  Austria  refused.  England  wanted  Dunkirk,  and  Austria  Alsace. 
On  the  Flanders  side,  Cobourg  was  forced  to  allow  the  division 
of  the  allied  forces  of  the  North  into  two  armies,  with  one  of  which 


510  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

he  besieged  Le  Quesnoi,  while  the  Duke  of  York  besieged  Dunkirk 
with  the  other.  Carnot  was  delighted  at  this  false  step,  and  pre- 
pared to  profit  by  it.  The  enemy  worked  by  stretching  long  lines  of 
men  along  the  French  frontier,  having  set  more  than  one  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  before  Dunkirk,  and  Le  Quesnoi,  and  between 
the  Moselle  and  the  sea  The  other  great  army  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  men  lay  between  the  Moselle  and  the  Rhine. 
Carnot  saw,  and  showed  the  committee,  that  this  stratagem  must 
be  met  by  a  very  different  course, —  action  in  masses,  concentration 
•of  irresistible  forces  upon  the  decisive  point  The  Requisition 
not  furnishing  men  promptly  enough,  they  drew  upon  the  armies 
of  the  Rhine  and  Moselle  to  strengthen  that  of  Flanders,  —  a  bold 
step,  by  which  the  Prussian  king  might  profit  to  invade  Lorraine. 
Carnot  risked  everything  unhesitatingly,  counting  on  the  lack  of 
concord  between  Prussians  and  Austrians.  But  twelve  thousand 
of  the  thirty-five  thousand  men  arrived  punctually.  Time  pressed, 
and  Carnot  saw  that  a  battle  must  be  won  at  all  hazards,  took  his 
measures  for  defence,  and  re-enforced  the  garrison  of  Dunkirk. 
The  Duke  of  York  was  awaiting  a  bombarding  fleet  from  the 
Thames,  but  a  flotilla  of  French  cannoneers  appeared  in  its  place 
and  beat  the  hostile  army,  quartered  between  the  sea  and  the  great 
moere,  or  marsh.  The  Duke  of  York  heard  the  French  cannon 
from  afar,  attacking  an  observation  corps  posted  on  the  Yser  to  cover 
the  siege.  He  had  twenty-one  thousand  English  and  Austrians 
before  Dunkirk,  and  Field-Marshal  Freitag  was  at  the  Yser  with 
sixteen  thousand  Hanoverians  in  English  pay.  The  English  were 
to  have  been  reinforced  by  fifteen  thousand  Dutch,  but  the  govern- 
ment, displeased  at  not  being  promised  a  share  of  the  French  plun- 
der, detained  them  at  the  Lys,  too  far  away  to  share  in  the  struggle. 
Carnot  hurried  to  the  French  camp  to  arrange  a  plan  of  attack  with 
the  new  general,  Houchard ;  they  agreed  to  surround  Freitag  and 
the  Duke  of  York  by  marching  on  Fumes  with  fifty  thousand  or 
sixty  thousand  men,  taking  the  enemy  between  that  place,  Dun- 
kirk, Bergues,  the  sea,  and  the  marshes. 

The  brave  Dunkirk  garrison,  knowing  help  to  be  at  hand,  began 


1793.]  HONDSCHOOTE  AND  WATTIGNIES.  511 

to  make  fierce  sallies  to  prevent  the  Duke  of  York  from  going  to 
Freitag's  aid,  and  not  one  of  the  enemy  could  have  escaped  the  trap 
set  for  them ;  but,  unfortunately,  Houchard,  the  new  general-in-chief, 
who  was  given  over  to  routine,  and  incapable  of  independent  action, 
did  not  concentrate  a  sufficient  force  to  execute  Carnot's  instruc- 
tions, attacking  Freitag's  observation  corps  with  thirty  thousand  men 
instead  of  turning  the  enemy  (September  6).  Jourdan,  a  young 
general,  who  had  already  distinguished  himself,  decided  the  success 
of  the  attack  by  his  energy,  and  the  Hanoverians  were  driven  from 
the  villages  they  occupied  on  either  side  the  Yser.  But  Houchard, 
whose  troops  were  widely  scattered,  paused  on  the  enemy's  return, 
spent  a  day  in  hesitation,  was  only  persuaded  to  resume  the  offen- 
sive, September  8,  by  the  threats  and  prayers  of  two  representatives. 
Once  engaged,  he  recovered  his  military  vigor.  The  enemy  had 
collected  around  the  village  of  Hondschoote.  Houchard,  Jourdan, 
Levasseur  and  Delbrel  (the  two  representatives),  led  the  troops 
sword  in  hand,  advancing  through  the  marshes,  knee-deep  in  water, 
and  carried  the  redoubts  protecting  Hondschoote  by  assault  The 
Hanoverians  retreated  to  Fumes,  which  the  Duke  of  York  also 
hurriedly  regained  at  nightfall,  abandoning  his  artillery.  Dun- 
kirk was  delivered  and  the  besieging  army  conquered,  although  it 
escaped.  The  news  of  the  fight  at  Hondschoote  was  enthusiastically 
greeted  at  Paris ;  but  the  impression  was  soon  destroyed  by  the  loss 
of  Le  Quesnoi,  which  capitulated  to  Cobourg,  September  11,  and 
by  a  check  received  by  Bouchard's  army  at  the  attack  on  Werwick 
and  Menin,  (September  15).  Public  opinion  and  the  representatives 
sent  to  the  army  of  the  North  bitterly  denounced  Houchard,  his 
command  was  taken  from  him,  as  was  only  fair,  but  he  was  also 
arrested  and  tried,  which  was  unjust,  and  his  death,  exacted  by  the 
terrorists,  was  an  inexcusable  barbarity.  He  was  replaced  by  Jour- 
dan, who  found  himself  in  a  difficult  and  critical  position.  After 
the  taking  of  Le  Quesnoi,  Cobourg  marched  towards  the  Sambre 
and  blockaded  Maubeuge,  with  twenty  thousand  men  entrenched 
under  its  walls ;  so  vast  an  army  soon  exhausted  the  supply  of  food, 
and  if  the  city  could  be  reduced  by  famine  and  siege,  Picardy  lay 


512  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

open  to  the  enemy.  The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  hesitated  to 
risk  a  battle  which  might  ruin  them,  but  Carnot  won  their  consent 
by  promising  to  direct  in  person.  Jourdan  had  more  than  one 
hundred  thousand  men  at  his  disposal,  many,  however,  ill  dressed 
and  ill  armed, —  some  having  only  pikes, — and  comprising  but  a 
small  body  of  cavalry.  The  enemy  had  twelve  "hundred  thousand 
men  in  fine  trim,  including  a  large  body  of  cavalry,  between  Mons 
and  the  sea;  fortunately  not  more  than  half  were  sent  against 
Maubeuge ;  thirty-five  thousand  men  besieging  it,  and  thirty  thou- 
sand quartered  two  or  three  leagues  south  to  cover  the  siege. 
Twelve  thousand  Dutch  also  joined  Cobourg,  and  Jourdan  dared 
not  carry  out  Carnot's  system,  break  up  the  camps  protecting 
Flanders,  and  mass  them  at  one  pointy  he  therefore  contented 
himself  with  collecting  forty  thousand  picked  men  at  Guise.  Car- 
not reached  the  camp,  and  the  army  advanced  on  Avesnes,  October 
13,  singing,  though  ragged  and  barefoot 

The  Austrian  observation  corps,  under  General  Clairfayt,  was 
posted  in  several  villages  and  on  heights  protected  by  woods, 
ravines,  and  breastworks  of  trees.  The  village  of  Wattignies,  held 
by  the  enemy's  left  wing,  was  the  key  to  the  position ;  if  it  could 
be  taken,  Maubeuge  lay  unprotected.  Still,  Jourdan  and  Carnot  did 
not  at  first  decide  to  throw  all  their  forces  on  Wattignies,  it  being 
remote  from  Guise,  their  point  of  retreat  and  chief  army  depot; 
they  feared  to  be  turned  back  and  cut  off,  and  accordingly  tried 
to  repel  the  enemy  and  drive  him  from  his  central  position  at  Dour- 
lers.  The  French  troops  made  a  brilliant  onslaught,  but  their  centre 
was  driven  back,  owing  to  a  mistake  made  by  the  officer  of  the  left 
wing,  and  the  attack  was  abandoned  after  much  bloodshed  (Octo- 
ber 15).  A  council  of  war  was  held,  and  Jourdan  proposed  re-en- 
forcing the  left  wing,  which  had  given  way.  "  No,"  said  Carnot, 
"  it  is  thus  battles  are  lost ! "  And  he  declared  that  the  centre  and 
left  must  be  drawn  upon  to  fill  up  the  right  wing,  and  their  whole 
strength  turned  to  Wattignies ;  having  been  defeated  on  the  Rhine 
they  must  conquer  or  die.  "Will  you  take  the  responsibility?" 
asked  Jourdan.  "  I  will,"  replied  Carnot.  He  depended  on  the 


1793.]  HONDSCHOOTE  AND  WATTIGNIES.  513 

woods  and  ravines  to  hide  their  movements  from  the  enemy,  a  thick 
fog  permitting  their  close  approach,  and  at  noon  on  the  16th,  when 
it  lifted,  the  Austrians  saw  twenty-four  thousand  men  hastening  up 
the  plain  of  Wattignies.  Twice  the  enemy's  artillery  repulsed  the 
French,  who  returned  to  the  charge,  sustained  by  the  light  artillery 
and  batteries  on  the  heights  opposite  the  Austrian  lines.  At  the 
third  assault,  led  by  Carnot  and  Jourdan,  Wattignies  was  taken, 
and  the  Austrians  pursued  to  Glarges,  where  a  body  of  cavalry  sent 
by  Cobourg  fell  upon  the  foremost  brigade  and  broke  their  ranks. 
The  general  of  brigade  ordered  a  retreat,  but  Carnot  rode  up,  rallied 
the  men,  set  the  general  aside,  dismounted,  seized  a  gun  and  led  on 
the  brigade,  forming  it  into  a  column  ;  another  representative,  Du- 
quesnoi,  advancing  with  Jourdan,  at  the  head  of  a  second  column. 
Carnot's  brother,  Colonel  Carnot-Feulins,  bringing  twelve  pieces  of 
light  artillery  to  bear  on  the  Austrian  flank,  routed  them,  and  the 
representatives  of  the  people  embraced  in  full  sight  of  the  army,  on 
the  heights  of  Glarges,  amid  cries  of  "  Long  live  the  Eepublic ! " 

Cobourg  did  not  wait  for  the  Duke  of  York  to  come  up,  but  raised 
the  siege  of  Maubeuge  by  night,  and  recrossed  the  Sambre.  Carnot 
and  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  desired  to  cross  at  once,  turn 
back  the  enemy,  enclose  him  in  the  French  territory  he  had  in- 
vaded, and  crush  him.  But  Jourdan  represented  the  destitute  state 
of  the  army,  and  the  absolute  need  of  reorganization,  and  Carnot 
yielded  to  his  arguments,  persuading  the  Committee  to  forego  hos- 
tilities until  spring.  The  enemy's  progress  at  the  north  was  arrested, 
and  the  Committee  could  concentrate  their  efforts  on  the  Ehine. 
Good  news  from  Lyons  and  La  Vendee,  which  gave  hope  for  a  speedy 
close  of  the  civil  war,  arrived  almost  simultaneously  with  that  from 
Wattignies.  The  Committee  felt  its  strength,  and  struck  a  blow  in 
the  interior,  summoning  the  indefatigable  Robert  Lindet  to  direct  a 
commission  for  provisioning  the  army,  and  forcing  supplies  from 
Hebertists,  thieves,  and  disorganizers,  a  triumvirate  being  formed, 
with  Carnot  for  the  head,  and  Lindet  and  Prieur  for  the  arms  (Octo- 
ber 22). 

In  the  region  of  the  Rhine  Prussian  and  Austrian  dissensions  were 
33 


514  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

most  useful  to  France.  The  king  of  Prussia  knew  that  Austria  was 
doing  her  utmost  to  involve  him  in  a  quarrel  with  Eussia,  and  wrest 
from  him  his  Polish  property,  and  he  was  not  disposed  to  sacrifice 
his  men  and  money  to  gain  Alsace  for  Austria.  The  enemy's  lack  of 
activity  encouraged  the  French  leaders  on  the  Ehine  and  Moselle, 
who  were  urged  on  by  the  Committee,  and  they  made  a  double  attack 
on  Wurmser's  Austrians  and  Brunswick's  Prussians  (September  12- 
14),  which  failed,  the  army  of  the  Moselle  being  driven  from  the 
Vosges  and  thrown  back  upon  the  Sarre.  This  success  modified 
the  Prussian  king's  views ;  setting  out  to  look  after  his  Polish  in- 
terests, he  confided  his  army  to  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  empowering 
him  to  help  the  Austrians  with  the  siege  of  Landau,  and  to  act  in 
concert  with  Wurmser.  The  13th  of  October,  Wurmser,  sustained 
on  the  right  by  the  Prussians,  attacked  the  intrenchments  protect- 
ing the  entrance  to  Alsace  from  Lauterburg  to  Weissemburg.  The 
French,  though  scattered  and  badly  commanded,  defended  them- 
selves bravely,  but  their  lines  were  forced  at  several  points,  and 
they  were  driven  back  to  the  Moter,  and  thence  to  Saverne  and 
Strasburg.  The  danger  was  extreme,  the  army  being  in  a  wretched 
state,  though  civil  surpassed  military  disorganization  in  Alsace. 
The  fall  of  the  Girondists  had  thrown  the  power  into  the  hands 
of  anarchists  worse  if  possible  than  the  Hebertists  at  Paris.  A 
German  ex- monk,  Euloge  Schneider  by  name,  public  accuser  of  the 
revolutionary  court  of  justice  at  Strasburg,  became  the  tyrant  of 
Alsace,  dictating  the  decrees  of  judges  chosen  by  himself,  inflicting 
ruin  and  death  as  his  hatred  or  his  fury  inclined,  and  using  the 
terror  he  inspired  to  gratify  his  criminal  passions ;  he  was  most 
hostile  to  the  French,  and  was  suspected  of  wishing  to  found  a 
demagogic  German  republic  in  Alsace.  The  mayor  and  loyal 
citizens  of  Strasburg  were  impotent  to  resist  the  anarchist  faction, 
and  the  counter-revolutionary  reaction,  towards  which  demagogic 
excesses  were  urging  the  weak  and  the  wealthy.  Emigrants  were 
returning  with  the  hostile  army,  and  the  Austrian  General  Wurmser, 
an  Alsatian  by  birth,  was  joyfully  received  at  Hagenau  by  the  roy- 
alists, who  mediated  with  their  Strasburg  friends  for  him.  Agents  of 


1793.]  ALSACE.  515 

the  reaction  party  offered  to  give  up  Strasburg  to  him,  if  he  would 
take  possession  in  the  name  of  Louis  XVII.  He  hesitated  and 
asked  leave  to  refer  the  question  to  the  Viennese  cabinet,  knowing 
that  Austria  did  not  covet  the  town  for  Louis  XVII.  Meantime, 
affairs  assumed  a  different  face  ;  the  Committee,  hearing  of  Alsace's 
danger,  raised  fresh  forces,  chose  two  new  leaders  for  the  armies  of 
the  Ehine  and  Moselle,  and  despatched  Saint-Just  (one  of  their 
members),  and  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety, 
Lebas,  a  friend  and  compatriot  of  Eobespierre,  to  Strasburg.  They 
opened  the  campaign  by  a  military  measure  of  great  importance : 
ordering  recruits  to  be  incorporated  with  well-trained  regiments, 
instead  of  forming  new  ones  which  would  be  entirely  raw  (October 
24),  a  measure  which  was  soon  after  applied  to  the  whole  army 
with  admirable  results.  Distress  and  lack  of  discipline  were  at  their 
height  in  the  army  of  the  Ehine,  and  Saint-Just  and  Lebas  took 
extreme  but  efficacious  means  to  relieve  the  one  and  suppress  the 
other.  They  gave  officers  and  governmental  agents  three  days  to 
satisfy  all  just  claims  ;  ordered  all  soldiers  found  straying  from 
camp  to  be  shot,  commanded  summary  execution  by  the  military 
tribunal  of  the  Ehine  of  all  lying,  peculating  agents,  and  persons 
convicted  of  holding  communication  with  the  enemy ;  the  soldiers 
were  forbidden  to  undress  at  night  during  a  campaign,  on  pain  of 
death,  nor  were  generals  or  officers  allowed  to  quit  their  corps  on 
any  pretext  Every  cloak  in  Strasburg,  aad  twenty  thousand  pairs 
of  shoes,  within  twenty-four  hours  were  put  in  requisition  for  the 
army.  "  Pull  off  the  shoes  of  every  aristocrat  in  Strasburg,"  wrote 
Saint-Just  to  the  municipal  authorities.  These  and  other  measures 
taken  were  severe  but  necessary,  and  were  atoned  for  by  a  great 
sen-ice  rendered  to  Alsace.  Saint-Just  and  Lebas,  struck  by  the 
danger  threatened  France  by  German  demagogues,  formed  or  pro- 
tected a  society  for  the  promotion  and  spread  of  French  customs 
and  ideas,  and  founded  free  French  schools  in  all  the  provinces  of 
Alsace  and  Lorraine,  resolving  to  put  down  Euloge  Schneider's  fac- 
tion. That  wretch  was  still  pursuing  his  career  of  crime,  having 
killed  thirty  persons  in  the  region  about  Strasburg,  but  he  was 
arrested  and  guillotined  at  Paris  soon  after. 


516  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

Meanwhile,  military  operations  were  resumed  with  renewed 
vigor ;  the  Austrians  being  repulsed  in  an  attack  on  Saverne,  and 
seeing  that  the  Strasburg  plot  had  failed,  proposed  an  armistice; 
but  Saint-Just  replied  that  "  the  French  Republic  gave  and  took 
nothing  but  bullets  from  its  enemies."  The  new  general  of  the 
army  of  the  Moselle  forbade  his  officers  to  hold  any  communication 
with  the  enemy,  save  by  cannon-balls  or  bayonet-points,  showing 
the  spirit  in  which  the  winter  campaign  was  to  be  conducted. 
Hoche,  the  brilliant  young  defender  of  Dunkirk,  was  now  chief  of 
the  army  of  the  Moselle,  the  new  leader  of  the  army  of  the  Ehine 
being  Pichegru.  They  had  nothing  in  common  save  their  birth, 
which  was  humble,  and  their  party,  which,  however,  they  had  joined 
from  very  different  motives ;  Hoche  from  genuine  zeal,  and  Pichegru 
from  ambitious  calculation.  Pichegru  was  thirty-two,  and  Hoche 
only  twenty-five,  but  Carnot  did  not  hesitate  to  intrust  him  with 
an  army,  judging  him  not  only  by  past  achievements,  but  by  plans 
sent  in  to  the  Committee,  showing  that  he  had  divined  by  in- 
stinct the  very  system  of  concentration  revealed  to  Carnot  by  long 
thought.  The  army  adored  him  at  first  sight,  and  seemed  like  new 
men  in  a  few  days.  He  treated  his  subordinates  as  he  had  been 
treated,  raising  young  men  several  steps  at  a  time,  when  he  thought 
them  deserving. 

On  the  14th  of  November  the  Austrians  won  a  final  victory  over 
the  army  of  the  Ehine,  taking  Fort  Vauban,  situated  on  an  island  in 
the  Rhine  above  Hagenau,  and  almost  opposite  Rastadt.  During 
the  night  of  the  16th  the  Prussians,  led  by  an  emigrant  engineer, 
surprised  and  scaled  Fort  de  Bitche,  commanding  the  defiles  of  the 
Vosges,  and  the  principal  means  of  communication  between  Alsace, 
Lorraine,  and  the  Palatinate.  A  battalion  from  Cher,  roused  sud- 
denly, rushed  to  the  ramparts  but  half  dressed,  and  overwhelmed 
the  enemy  with  a  shower  of  hand-grenades  and  billets  of  wood. 
Next  day  the  Prussian  army  retreated  to  Kaiserslautern,  where  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick  wished  to  quarter  them  as  a  cover  to  the  siege 
of  Landau,  but  Hoche  did  not  long  leave  them  undisturbed ;  crossing 
the  Sarre  with  thirty-five  thousand  men,  he  drove  the  enemy  before 


1793.]  HOCHE.  517 

him  towards  the  Vosges,  attacking  the  Prussians  at  Kaiserslautern ; 
the  battle  lasted  three  days  in  the  Valley  of  the  Lauter,  and  on  the 
surrounding  heights.  The  extreme  difficulty  of  combining  columns 
of  attack  on  such  steep  ground,  the  strength  of  the  enemy's  position, 
and  their  vigorous  resistance  under  the  Duke  of  Brunswick's  com- 
mand, forced  Hoche  to  beat  a  retreat  (November  29).  His  position 
was  critical ;  not  having  obeyed  Carnot's  instructions  to  turn  back 
the  Prussians,  join  the  army  of  the  Ehine,  attack  the  Austrians,  and 
go  to  Landau's  aid,  he  might  well  fear  Bouchard's  fate.  But  he 
showed  as  much  strength  and  decision  in  defeat  as  Houchard  had 
of  weakness  and  indecision  in  victory  won  almost  in  spite  of  him. 
The  army  of  the  Moselle  effected  its  retreat  with  admirable  order 
and  celerity,  quite  unmolested  by  the  enemy,  and  Hoche  at  once 
received  letters  from  Saint-Just  and  Carnot,  who  wrote  in  the  name 
of  the  Committee  (December  4  -  7).  "  You  pledged  yourself  afresh 
at  Kaiserslautern,"  wrote  Saint- Just.  "  Instead  of  one  victory,  we 

must  now  have  two Strive  to  create  the  utmost  harmony 

between  your  movements  and  those  of  the  right  wing  (the  army  of 

the  Pihine) The  whole  line  must  strike  a  simultaneous  blow, 

not  giving  the  enemy  breathing-space.  The  commanders  of  the 
combined  armies  must  be  friends.  March  to  Landau  as  speedily  as 
may  be :  delay  is  destruction  to  France." 

Carnot  wrote :  "  A  reverse  is  no  crime  when  a  man  deserves  vic- 
tory ;  men  are  to  be  judged,  not  by  events,  but  by  their  spirit  and 
efforts.  We  trust  you  still ;  rally  your  forces,  march  on,  and  scatter 
the  royalist  hordes.  We  send  you  ten  thousand  men  from  the  army 
of  Ardennes :  try  to  let  Landau  know  that  you  are  coming  to  her 
aid,  and  see,  meanwhile,  if  by  joining  Pichegru,  you  can  conquer 
the  Austrians,  holding  him  before  Strasburg."  Hoche,  thus  sus- 
tained and  appreciated,  no  longer  hesitated  to  execute  Carnot's  plan, 
throwing  all  his  genius  and  audacity  into  it.  The  troops  hung  back 
when  they  received  marching-orders  in  December,  after  such  fatigue 
and  suffering.  One  regiment  mutinied,  but  Hoche  sent  out  an  order 
that  they  should  forfeit  the  honor  of  being  in  the  first  fight,  upon 
which  the  humiliated  soldiers,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  implored 


518  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XVII. 

permission  to  march  in  the  vanguard.  He  at  once  sent  twelve 
thousand  men  to  help  Pichegru's  army,  which  had  been  engaged 
since  November  18  in  a  series  of  attacks  on  Wurmser's  army.  The 
Austrian  general,  in  consequence  of  the  Prussian  retreat  to  Kaisers- 
lautern,  assumed  a  defensive  position  beyond  the  Linsel  and  Moter, 
protecting  himself  by  a  line  of  twenty-eight  redoubts,  extending  from 
the  heights  of  Reichshoffen  to  Bischwiller  and  Drusenheirn  on  the 
Rhine.  (December  8),  Hoche's  advance  guard  marched  upon  the 
Austrian  flank,  and  joined  the  army  of  the  Rhine.  Skirmishes 
occurred  daily  about  Hagenau,  Reichshoffen,  Worth,  and  Froesch- 
willer,  places  made  famous  by  the  fathers'  victories,  and  whose  fame 
has  been  renewed  by  the  sons'  misfortunes.  The  Prussians  strove 
to  assist  the  Austrians,  but  Wurmser  and  Brunswick  could  never 
agree  ;  they  several  times  planned  to  join  their  forces  for  offensive 
action,  but  were  always  prevented  by  the  French,  who  kept  on,  un- 
daunted by  winter  rains  and  snow.  December  22,  Hoche,  skilfully 
evading  the  Prussians,  descended  the  Vosges,  and  marched  upon  the 
Austrian  redoubts  at  Froeschwiller.  Sixteen  field-pieces  thundered 
upon  the  French  columns.  "  Six  hundred  francs  apiece  for  those 
guns,  comrades  ! "  cried  Hoche.  "  Done  ! "  was  the  reply ;  and  in- 
fantry and  cavalry  stormed  the  redoubt,  one  regiment  taking  six 
cannon,  the  others  falling  to  a  regiment  of  dragoons,  a  battalion  of 
the  line,  and  one  of  Alsatian  volunteers.  This  was  the  only  time 
Hoche  offered  his  men  any  reward  but  glory. 

The  Austrians,  driven  from  Froeschwiller,  tried  to  hold  Worth ; 
but  Hoche  forced  them  from  their  position  by  seizing  the  artillery 
and  baggage,  the  Prussian  corps  assisting  them  being  driven 
back  to  Weissemburg.  If  Pichegru  had  sustained  Hoche  by  a 
general  movement  of  the  army  of  the  Rhine,  the  Austrians  would 
have  been  destroyed;  as  it  was,  they  retreated  beyond  the  Suhr. 
Hoche  attacked  them  next  day  at  Sultz  with  an  advance  guard 
whose  inferior  numbers  exposed  them  to  great  danger.  A  slight 
re-enforcement  turned  the  tide  of  victory,  and  the  Austrians  fell 
back  upon  Weissemburg  in  great  disorder,  followed  by  a  crowd  of 
emigrants  who  had  returned  to  France  in  the  enemy's  train,  and  of 


1793.]  HOCHE.  519 

Alsatian  counter-revolutionists  flying  from  the  vengeance  of  the 
Republic. 

The  armies  of  the  Rhine  and  Moselle  met  on  the  battle-field. 
One  of  the  two  generals  must  assume  the  whole  command  if  they 
would  win  the  day.  Iloche  cordially  yielded  to  Pichegru,  recalling 
the  words  of  Saint-Just  and  Lebas,  "  Our  officers  must  be  friends," 
and  wrote  to  them :  "  In  the  name  of  the  Republic,  destroy  jealousy : 
give  Pichegru  the  command."  Saint-Just  and  Lebas  had  indeed 
chosen  Pichegru,  but  meanwhile  Baudot  and  Lacoste,  also  repre- 
sentatives, and  enthusiastic  admirers  of  Hoche,  saw  fit  to  give, 
or  rather  to  force  upon  him  supreme  authority.  A  dangerous 
struggle  might  have  arisen  had  not  Saint-Just,  though  accustomed  to 
rule,  and  deeply  wounded  by  his  colleagues'  disregard  of  his  orders, 
conquered  his  feelings.  "  We  must  now,"  he  wrote,  "  think  of  our 
country  alone." 

The  enemy  had  resolved  to  make  a  final  effort.  Brunswick  hav- 
ing at  last  joined  Wurmser,  they  agreed  to  attack  the  French  on 
the  26th  of  December,  but  Hoche  once  more  forestalled  them  by 
ordering  a  general  attack  by  the  armies  of  the  Rhine  and  Moselle, 
from  the  Rhine  to  the  Vosges.  Two  divisions  of  the  army  of  the 
Rhine  were  to  storm  Lauterburg  on  the  right,  under  General 
Desaix,  a  man  destined  to  renown.  In  the  centre,  Hoche  advanced 
on  Weissemburg  with  thirty-five  thousand  men.  Far  away  to  the  left, 
among  the  mountains,  three  divisions  of  the  army  of  the  Moselle 
renewed  their  attack  upon  the  Prussian  positions  at  Kaiserslautern 
and  Anwiller.  Before  Weissemburg,  the  enemy,  who  expected  to 
surprise  the  French,  were  themselves  surprised  in  mid  march ;  their 
vanguard,  being  repulsed,  strove  to  gain  the  heights  of  Geisberg,  but 
the  French,  shouting  "Landau,  or  death!"  scaled  hedges  and  ditches, 
and  took  Geisberg  under  fire  from  seven  batteries.  Brunswick 
took  command  of  the  Austrian  reserve  to  prevent  the  retreat  from 
becoming  a  rout,  and  the  enemy  recrossed  the  Lauter  (in  Alsace, 
not  the  Palatinate)  and  left  Weissemburg,  which  they  had  recap- 
tured but  two  months  previous.  Desaix  carried  Lauterburg ; 
Hoche  entered  Weissemburg  on  the  morning  of  the  27th,  and  on 


520  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

the  28th  the  siege  of  Landau  was  raised.  On  the  30th  Wurmser 
crossed  the  Rhine  at  Philippsburg,  unwilling  to  wait  one  day  to 
facilitate  the  Prussian  retreat.  Kaiserslautern  and  the  posts  of  the 
Vosges  were  evacuated  without  the  least  resistance ;  the  Prussian 
army  returned  to  Mayence,  and  the  French  again  occupied  the 
Palatinate,  Spires,  and  Worms,  taking  possession  of  all  the  enemy's 
supplies.  The  Duke  of  Brunswick  sent  in  his  resignation  to  the 
king  of  Prussia  in  mortification  and  disgust.  The  following  month 
the  Austrians  abandoned  Fort  Vauban,  which  commanded  the 
Rhine  between  Strasburg  and  Lauterburg,  thus  terminating  the 
glorious  campaign  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Vosges. 

Simultaneously  with  these  great  military  events  in  the  North 
and  East,  the  civil  war  in  the  West  had  been  prolonged  during  the 
latter  half  of  1793,  and  was  even  more  desperate  and  bloody  than  the 
foreign  war.  The  Vendean  leaders  had  tried  to  win  direct  aid 
from  foreign  arms ;  but  England  would  promise  nothing  unless  they 
would  cross  the  Loire  and  seize  a  seaport  in  Brittany ;  this  they  did 
not  feel  able  to  do  after  their  repulse  at  Nantes,  so  that  their  affairs 
looked  dark  and  troublous  throughout  July  and  August.  Towards 
the  end  of  July,  Representative  Philippeaux  strengthened  popular 
conviction  in  Anjou,  Maine,  and  the  region  of  the  Lower  Loire  by 
his  eloquence,  patriotism,  and  courage  ;  they  having  been  shaken 
by  the  ill  conduct  of  the  leaders  of  the  army  of  Saumur  and  quar- 
rels between  Girondists  and  Mountaineers.  General  Canclaux,  the 
defender  of  Nantes,  encamped  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Loire,  held 
Charette  and  the  bands  of  the  Marais  in  check.  General  Tunck, 
with  a  mere  handful  of  men,  twice  routed  the  Vendean  army  before 
Luc,on,  which  they  had  been  trying  to  seize,  but  this  partial  success 
was  fruitless.  Canclaux  and  the  representatives  sent  to  his  army, 
though  intelligent  and  well-intentioned,  were  unable  to  act.  The 
ministry  of  war,  ruled  by  Hebertists,  reserved  all  its  favor  and  aid 
for  the  army  of  the  Saumur,  which  derived  no  profit  from  it,  being 
in  the  hands  of  an  incapable  general  and  violent,  blustering  repre- 
sentatives. Rossignol,  the  general,  was  an  honest,  noisy,  brainless 
jeweller,  who  had  made  his  mark  at  Parisian  clubs  and  in  the 


1793.]  CANCLAUX.  521 

movements  of  the  day ;  being  made  an  officer  and  sent  to  La  Ven- 
dee, he  encouraged  the  disorder  he  should  have  repressed,  and  was 
arrested  for  preaching  insubordination  and  permitting  pillage.  His 
Hebertist  friends  pulled  him  through,  made  him  general,  and  finally 
Commander-in-chief  of  the  army  of  Saumur  (July  27).  He  was, 
however,  but  the  puppet  worked  by  another  and  worse  spirit, 
Eonsin,  a  third-rate  man  of  letters,  and  an  officer  in  the  same  army. 
He  was  bold  and  ambitious,  but  depraved,  and  had  formed  a  scheme 
for  concluding  the  war  by  fire  and  sword;  he  accordingly  urged 
Bossignol  not  only  to  fulfil  strictly  but  to  exaggerate  the  terrible 
decree  of  August  1,  desiring  to  burn  every  village  that  had  sheltered 
the  "brigands," — Chollet  and  Parthenay,  for  instance,  which  the  Ven- 
de"ans  had  entered  twice.  The  representatives  sent  to  Niort  (Gou- 
pilleau  and  Bourdon  de  1'Oise)  were  furious,  although  the  latter 
was  an  ardent  Jacobin,  and  removed  Eossignol  from  command 
(August  22)  while  other  representatives  upheld  him.  The  question 
was  referred  to  the  Committee  and  Convention  ;  the  Jacobins  sided 
with  Eossignol;  he  was  restored  to  office,  and  Goupilleau  and 
Bourdon  de  1'Oise  were  recalled  (August  28). 

The  armies  of  Nantes  and  Saumur  were  now  quarrelling  for  the 
possession  of  the  garrison  of  Mayence,  which  had  just  arrived  on  the 
Loire,  both  generals  sending  a  plan  for  the  campaign  to  the  Com- 
mittee. Canclaux's  plan,  supported  by  Philippeaux,  was  to  reunite 
the  army  of  Mayence  to  the  little  army  of  Nantes,  and  effect  a 
junction  through  the  Marais  with  the  corps  occupying  Sables- 
d'Olonne.  Having  conquered  maritime  Vendee,  they  would  pene- 
trate to  the  Bocage,  collecting  the  army  of  Saumur  by  a  concentric 
movement.  Eonsin,  on  the  contrary,  proposed  adding  the  garrison 
to  the  army  of  Saumur,  and  attacking  La  Vendee  on  the  east 
instead  of  the  west. 

The  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  though  pleased  with  Can- 
claux's plan,  consented  to  leave  the  decision  to  a  council  of  war 
comprising  the  representatives  sent  to  both  armies  and  their  gen- 
erals, and  this  council  voted  for  Canclaux.  The  directory  of  the 
department  of  Maine  and  Loire  accordingly  formed  a  commission 


522  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

to  protect  the  property  of  patriots  living  near  the  battle-field,  and  to 
care  for  the  women,  children,  and  old  men  of  the  insurgent  com- 
munes. The  army  was  forbidden  to  burn  any  city,  village,  or 
house  under  pretext  that  it  had  given  shelter  to  insurgents,  and 
told  that  "if  circumstances  compelled  the  burning  of  rebellious 
communes,"  it  must  be  done  by  written  order  from  the  general 
(September  8) ;  a  similar  decree  having  been  issued  to  the  army  of 
Nantes,  August  27,  forbidding  plunder  on  pain  of  death. 

The  Vendean  chiefs  took  measures  which  showed  the  alarm 
inspired  by  the  arrival  of  the  men  of  Mayence.  A  proclamation 
was  issued,  threatening  to  treat  all  who  refused  to  take  up  arms  as 
"  accomplices  of  the  National  Convention,"  and  the  Vendean  Coun- 
cil of  War  declared  that  the  men  of  Mayence  could  not  be  taken 
prisoners,  as  they  were  violating  the  treaty  of  Mayence  by  taking 
part  in  the  war,  the  Vende'ans  thus  identifying  themselves  with  the 
powers  working  to  dismember  France. 

The  enemy  forestalled  the  republicans  by  an  attack  on  Canclaux's 
camp  at  Vaudieres  (September  5),  and  on  the  division  at  Luqon, 
which  had  marched  prematurely  to  Chantonnay.  Charette  was  re- 
pulsed by  Canclaux,  but  the  Li^on  division  was  taken  by  storm  in 
General  Tunck's  absence,  and  the  prisoners  taken  were  brutally 
slain.  This  partial  check  did  not  delay  the  general  movement: 
Canclaux  was  joined  by  ten  thousand  of  the  fearless  defenders  of 
Mayence,  led  by  Aubert-Dubayet,  Kleber,  and  the  two  representa- 
tives who  had  shared  alike  their  danger  and  their  glory,  Merlin  de 
Thionville  and  Eeubell,  the  former  of  whom  issued  a  proclamation, 
offering  the  insurgents  amnesty  and  fraternity  if  they  would  return 
to  duty,  —  if  not,  they  must  expect  war  to  the  knife. 

Canclaux  set  out,  September  9,  with  fifteen  thousand  men,  leav- 
ing a  reserve  at  Vaudieres,  the  regiments  from  Sables-d'Olonne, 
Fontenay,  and  Luqon  (the  latter  having  been  speedily  re-formed  after 
its  defeat)  advancing  to  join  him  on  his  way  to  the  general  rendez- 
vous at  Mortagne  in  the  heart  of  La  Vendee.  Recruiting-offices 
were  opened  in  every  direction,  and  the  tocsin  summoned  the  peo- 
ple from  Angers  and  Tours  to  Niort  and  La  Rochelle,  to  join  the 


1793.]  GERMANS  DRIVEN  FROM  ALSACE.  523 

army  of  Saumur.  But  the  disorderly  conduct  of  that  army  and  the 
incapacity  of  its  generals  had  disgusted  and  discouraged  people,  and 
it  was  impossible  to  raise  more  than  fifty  thousand  ill-armed  and 
lukewarm  soldiers,  who  gave  way  at  sight  of  the  enemy.  Detach- 
ments of  the  army  having  been  beaten,  the  Vendeans  attacked 
Thouars  and  Doue,  and  were  repulsed,  by  the  regular  troops,  how- 
ever, not  the  recruits  (September  14).  Canclaux  still  advanced  with 
the  troops  from  Mayence,  driving  Charette  before  him.  At  Lege*  he 
freed  twelve  hundred  unfortunate  patriots,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, who  had  been  imprisoned  by  the  insurgents.  Taking  Montaigu 
on  the  16th,  he  was  but  six  or  seven  leagues  from  Mortagne,  but 
was  informed  by  Eossignol  that  the  army  of  Saumur  was  unable 
to  join  him.  He  resolved  to  await  it  before  attacking  the  town, 
and  meanwhile  to  take  up  a  position  on  the  Sevre-Nantaise  at  Tif- 
fauges  and  Torfou,  and  rally  the  columns  from  Fontenay,  Lu^on, 
and  Sables-d'Olonne,  between  those  posts  and  Montaigu,  the  column 
from  Sables-d'Olonne  being  already  at  St.  Fulgent,  but  five  or  six 
leagues  away.  On  the  16th  of  September  Eossignol  ordered  these 
columns  to  beat  a  retreat,  which  those  from  Luqon  and  Fontenay 
did,  but  the  commander  of  the  troops  from  Sables-d'Olonne,  Miec- 
kowski,  stood  firm.  This  order,  which  exposed  Canclaux's  right 
flank,  really  proceeded  from  Eonsin,  and  was  revoked  by  Eossignol 
too  late  to  avert  the  consequences.  September  19  Canclaux's 
advance  guard,  two  thousand  men  from  Mayence,  led  by  Kleber, 
took  the  stronghold  of  Torfou,  but  were  at  once  surrounded  by  the 
two  Vendean  armies,  frantic  women  dragging  back  to  battle  such 
insurgents  as  fled  the  field.  The  men  from  Mayence  escaped, 
thanks  only  to  Kleber  and  Chevardin,  commander  of  the  infantry 
from  Saone  and  Loire.  "  Hold  your  ground ! "  cried  Kleber.  "  Die, 
but  save  your  comrades ! "  "  Yes,  general,"  was  Chevardin's  reply. 
He  checked  the  enemy  and  died.  Canclaux  and  Dubayet,  coming  up 
with  the  chief  body  of  troops,  defeated  the  Vendeans,  who  returned 
to  Montaigu  next  day,  surprising  and  defeating  the  army  of  Nantes 
under  General  Beysser,  —  Canclaux  not  arriving  in  time  to  save  them. 
Beysser  was  obliged  to  order  a  retreat  to  Nantes.  From  Montaigu 


524  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XVII. 

the  Vendean  leaders  fell  upon  St.  Fulgent,  destroying  Mieckowski's 
corps.  Had  it  not  been  for  Eonsin's  order  Mieckowski  would  have 
joined  Beysser  at  Montaigu  before  the  attack,  and  the  troops  from 
LuQon  and  Fontenay  would  also  have  arrived  in  time,  giving  France 
the  victory.  Konsin,  angry  at  the  rejection  of  his  plan  for  the 
campaign,  plotted  to  cause  Canclaux' s  defeat  and  his  own  victory. 
When  he  fancied  he  had  isolated  Canclaux  and  drawn  the  Vendean 
forces  upon  the  troops  from  Mayence,  he  pressed  forward  to  Yihiers 
and  Beaulieu  at  the  head  of  seven  or  eight  thousand  troops  of  the 
line  and  ten  thousand  recruits.  But  he  was  entrapped  at  Coron ; 
ten  or  twelve  thousand  Vendeans  coming  down  from  the  heights 
shot  the  cannoneers  at  their  guns  and  put  the  ill-guided  army  to 
flight,  and  the  column  stationed  at  Beaulieu  was  defeated  next  day. 
Many  of  the  Vendean  women  distinguished  themselves  by  their 
valor  and  fury ;  one  of  them  writes  an  account  of  her  murder  of 
twenty-one  "  blues"  (republicans),  and  boasts  that  she  "  cut  her  uncle's 
throat,  because  she  met  him  at  the  head  of  a  republican  troop." 

The  plan  of  operations  against  La  Vendee  failed  utterly,  although 
the  army  of  Mayence  did  their  utmost.  The  brave  and  loyal  Phi- 
lippeaux,  with  the  approval  of  his  colleagues  from  Nantes,  wrote  a 
letter  to  the  Committee,  setting  forth  Rossignol's  incapacity  and 
Eonsin' s  treachery,  which  was  read  before  the  Convention  by  Mer- 
lin de  Thionville  (September  24).  Eonsin  hastened  to  Paris  to 
oppose  denunciation  to  denunciation,  and  to  accuse  Canclaux  and 
Aubert-Dubayet  of  disorganizing  the  army !  Eobespierre  still  up- 
held the  Hebertists ;  Eonsin  gained  his  cause,  and  Canclaux  and 
Dubayet  lost  their  positions :  for  although  Carnot  knew  their  worth, 
he  could  not  stand  against  the  Committee  and  the  Convention,  who 
were  determined  to  remove  all  officers  of  foreign  or  noble  origin, 
which  resolve,  though  unjust  and  injurious,  was  easily  explained  by 
the  prejudice  and  mistrust  of  the  period.  Carnot  tried  to  atone  for 
this  by  employing  in  his  office  distinguished  officers,  who  were 
forced  to  conceal  their  noble  names  to  escape  persecution.  The 
Hebertists  were  sustained  by  Eobespierre,  in  recalling  from  La 
Vendee  not  only  Aubert-Dubayet,  Canclaux,  and  Mieckowski,  but 


1793.]  GERMANS  DRIVEN  FROM  ALSACE.  525 

the  representatives  who  had  best  served  the  Republic,  Philippeaux, 
Merlin  de  Thionville,  Reubell,  and  Cavaignac  (father  of  the  general), 
leaving  none  but  violent  Jacobins.  Still  they  obtained  but  a  partial 
success ;  they  removed  their  foes,  but  could  not  uphold  their  friends, 
Eossignol  being  recalled  from  Saumur,  and  Ronsin  not  returning 
thither.  The  Committee  adopted  the  new  and  capital  plan  of  unit- 
ing the  forces  from  Saumur  and  Nantes  into  one  army  of  the  West. 
Rossignol  was  transferred  to  the  Cotes  de  Brest,  now  quite  a  sec- 
ondary command.  Unfortunately,  the  clubs,  persisting  in  considering 
the  Vendean  war  peculiarly  their  own  affair,  selected  a  leader  yet 
more  inefficient  than  Rossignol,  in  the  shape  of  General  Le'chelle. 

At  the  close  of  one  of  Barere's  reports,  each  sentence  of  which 
ended  with  the  refrain,  "  La  Vendee  must  be  destroyed,"  and  ex- 
plained that  the  Republic's  safety  lay  in  this  measure,  the  Conven- 
tion issued  a  proclamation  to  the  army  of  the  "West :  "  Soldiers  of 
Liberty,  the  brigands  of  La  Vendee  must  be  exterminated  before 
October  is  over  ! " 

The  army  of  Nantes  resumed  the  offensive  before  hearing  of  the 
changes  ordered  at  Paris,  marching  straight  to  Mortagne,  where  the 
troops  from  Sables-d'Olonne,  Luqon,  and  Fontenay  were  to  join  it ; 
but  they  again  failed  to  meet,  owing  to  a  counter  order  from  Saumur, 
calling  the  three  latter  corps  to  Bressuire.  Canclaux,  hearing  that 
re-enforcements  did  not  come,  marched  upon  the  enemy,  and  was  in 
the  presence  of  the  Vende"ans  when  he  received  the  despatch  strip- 
ping him  of  his  authority.  He  took  leave  of  his  army,  won  a  victory 
at  St.  Symphorien,  near  Tiffauges,  October  6,  and  set  off  on  the  7th. 
There,  as  at  Torfou,  Kleber  commanded  the  vanguard,  and  as  they 
stood  before  the  Vendeans,  the  soldiers  cried  out :  "  General,  we  have 
no  cannon ! "  "  Then  seek  those  you  lost  at  Torfou ! "  They  rushed 
forward  with  bayonets  fixed,  and  overcame  all  obstacles,  four  thou- 
sand men  routing  twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand. 

Lechelle,  the  new  general-in-chief,  rejoined  the  army  of  Mayence 
October  8,  but  De  Thionville  (who  had  not  then  been  recalled)  and 
another  representative  considered  him  so  utterly  incapable,  that  they 
gave  the  active  command  to  Kle'ber,  leaving  the  bare  title  to  Le"- 


526  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

chelle.  Meanwhile  the  army  of  Saumur,  collected  at  Bressuire 
under  General  Chalbos,  triumphed  over  part  of  the  Vende"an  army, 
and  entered  Chatillon  (October  9),  where  the  insurgents'  chief 
council  of  war  held  session.  The  army  of  Mayence  resumed  its 
march  on  the  14th,  entering  Mortagne  next  day,  where  it  was  re- 
enforced  by  troops  from  Luqon,  led  by  Marceau,  a  young  man  des- 
tined to  fame,  whose  first  laurels  were  won  at  the  siege  of  Verdun. 
They  pushed  forward  and  defeated  the  Vendeans  at  St.  Christophe, 
between  Mortagne  and  Chollet,  entering  the  latter  town  on  the  16th, 
and  the  next  night  were  joined  by  Chalbos,  when  the  army  com- 
prised twenty  or  twenty-two  thousand  men,  full  of  ardor  and  con- 
fidence. The  plan  which  had  failed  a  month  before  had  now  suc- 
ceeded, and  the  republicans  had  penetrated  to  the  heart  of  La 
Vendee.  The  insurgents  were  much  disquieted :  Lescure,  one  of 
their  most  popular  leaders,  was  fatally  wounded ;  Charette,  having 
quarrelled  about  a  question  of  booty,  was  fighting  in  the  Marais  on 
his  own  account,  and  although  recalled,  refused  to  come.  D'Elbe'e 
and  the  other  leaders  still  swayed  the  insurgents  of  Upper  Poitou 
and  Anjou,  but  were  shaking  in  their  shoes.  Bonchamps,  their  most 
intelligent  officer,  had  long  been  anxious  to  carry  the  war  into  Brit- 
tany, where  the  people  were  disposed  to  join  the  "  Catholic  army  "  ; 
but  D'Elbee  would  not  agree  to  it,  and  the  Vendean  council  of  war 
finally  resolved  to  make  a  supreme  effort,  meaning  to  cross  the 
Loire  if  worse  came  to  worst,  a  detachment  being  sent  to  hold  the 
two  passages  of  the  river  at  Varades  and  Ancenis,  after  which  they 
fell  upon  the  republican  army  forty  thousand  strong  (October  17). 
It  was  the  grandest  day  of  the  whole  terrible  war.  D'Elbee,  Bon- 
champs,  D'Autichamps,  and  young  La  Rochejaquelein  led  on  their 
men  with  desperate  energy,  charging  with  closed  columns,  Merlin  de 
Thionville  and  six  other  representatives  setting  the  troops  a  worthy 
example.  For  four  hours  success  was  uncertain ;  D'Elbee  and  Bon- 
champs  were  killed,  and  towards  the  close  of  the  day,  the  Vendean 
army  yielded,  night  covering  their  flight  to  St.  Florent  with  an  im- 
mense throng  of  sick  and  wounded,  old  men,  women,  children,  and 
priests,  eighty  thousand  crowding  the  shores  of  the  Loire,  shrieking 


1793.]  LA  VENDEE  CONQUERED.  527 

• 
and  crying  for  help  to  the  vessels  ferrying  across  the  multitude. 

Meanwhile  their  leaders  at  St.  Florent  were  deciding  the  fate  of 
five  thousand  republican  prisoners  confined  in  the  church.  They 
often  slew  their  captives  by  hundreds,  despite  the  efforts  of  their 
leaders,  and  now,  enraged  by  their  defeat,  they  resolved  to  shoot 
every  one,  then  shrank  from  the  atrocity.  While  they  deliberated 
their  men  collected  round  the  church  with  cries  of  fury,  threaten- 
ing to  begin  the  carnage.  Boncharnps  from  his  dying  bed  sent 
orders  to  spare  the  prisoners.  "  It  is  my  last  order,"  said  he ;  "  prom- 
ise to  obey  it ! "  With  a  cry  of  "  Bonchainps  demands  mercy ! "  they 
dropped  their  arms,  and,  unable  to  take  them  across  the  river,  freed 
their  victims,  among  whom  was  one  deserving  a  place  in  history,  — 
Haudaudine,  one  of  the  national  guard  from  Mayence.  After  being 
taken  by  the  Vendeans,  he  was  sent  to  propose  an  exchange  of 
prisoners,  but  the  republican  authorities  refused  to  communicate 
with  the  rebels,  Haudaudine,  it  is  said,  concurring  in  their  course. 
He  had  promised  to  return  to  prison  if  he  failed,  and  did  so,  though 
death  awaited  him ;  struck  by  his  keen  sense  of  honor,  the  Vendeans 
spared  his  life,  and  he  afterwards  rescued  Bonchamps's  widow  when 
she  was  condemned  by  a  republican  court. 

On  the  18th  of  October  the  Vendeans  crossed  the  Loire,  and 
when  the  republicans  reached  St.  Florent  on  the  morning  of  the 
19th,  a  few  stragglers  only  were  visible  on  a  distant  island.  If  this 
passage  could  have  been  prevented,  Vendee  would  have  been 
crushed,  but  Canclaux's  recall  destroyed  military  discipline  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Loire,  and  the  Vendeans  met  with  no  serious  re- 
sistance. 

The  victorious  army  from  Chollet,  now  divided  to  protect  Angers 
and  Nantes  from  the  flying  troops,  completed  the  conquest  of  the 
Bocage  de  la  Vendee,  and  pursued  Charette  into  the  Marais,  several 
communes  of  the  Bocage  having  accepted  the  amnesty  offered 
by  de  Thionville  and  his  colleagues.  The  Vendeans,  replacing 
D'Elbee  by  Henri  de  La  Bochejaquelein,  went  neither  to  Angers 
nor  Nantes,  but  to  Mayence,  hoping  to  raise  recruits  and  proceed 
to  Brittany,  as  they  had  friends  at  Mayence,  —  "  Chouans,"  or  bands 


528  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

of  insurgents,  who  had  waged  a  petty  war  against  the  republican 
authorities  for  months  from  their  nests  in  the  forests.  They  took 
their  name  from  one  of  their  leaders,  Jean  Cottereau,  surnamed 
"  Chouan"  (the  owl).  "  Chouannerie,"  as  this  petty  war  was  called, 
flourished  in  Upper  Brittany,  and  at  the  same  time  there  was  an 
outbreak  of  the  people  in  Morbihan.  The  Vendeans  hoped  to  find 
another  La  Vendee,  and  entered  Chateau  Gonthier,  where  they  killed 
the  priest,  judge,  and  town  council ;  these  barbarities  being  provoked 
by  the  murder  of  some  of  their  wounded  men,  who  had  been  slain 
by  the  republican  skirmishers.  Atrocities  increased  when  they  took 
possession  of  Laval,  and  were  joined  by  six  thousand  peasants  from 
Brittany  and  Le  Mans.  On  the  25th  of  October  they  repulsed  the 
republican  advance  guard,  which  attacked  them  at  Laval  without 
waiting  for  the  rest  of  the  army  to  come  up.  Next  day  the  repub- 
lican army  assembled  at  Villiers,  half-way  between  Laval  and  Cha"- 
teau  Gonthier,  and  it  was  agreed  to  allow  the  exhausted  and  starv- 
ing men  a  few  days'  rest  before  making  an  attack  on  both  shores  of 
the  Mayenne,  aided  by  a  body  of  troops  from  Brittany.  Next  morn- 
ing, General  Le'chelle,  heedless  of  this  plan,  ordered  a  march  on 
Laval  from  the  left  bank,  ordering  no  action  on  the  other  shore,  and 
sending  no  message  to  the  Breton  men,  thus  despatching  twenty 
thousand  men  by  one  road  in  a  single  column  against  the  enemy. 
Kleber's  advance  guard  and  the  men  from  Mayence  met  the  enemy 
forty  thousand  strong  on  the  heights  of  Entrames.  While  the 
men  from  Mayence  fought  bravely,  a  division  of  the  old  army 
of  Saumur,  which  should  have  supported  them,  beat  a  retreat,  the 
general-in-chief  with  it ;  the  former,  seeing  themselves  abandoned, 
gave  way  for  the  first  time,  lost  their  artillery,  and  were  pursued  to 
Chateau  Gonthier,  the  rest  of  the  army  not  having  fired  a  shot. 
Next  day  Kleber  rallied  his  men  at  Lion  d' Angers  on  the  Oudon. 
"  When  I  looked,"  writes  Kleber,  "  at  these  brave  men,  who  never 
knew  anything  but  victory  before,  —  when  they  crowded  about  me 
overwhelmed  with  shame  and  sorrow,  I  could  not  speak ;  sobs 

choked  my  utterance "     The  whole  army  cried,  "  Down  with 

Lechelle ! "  and  he  was  requested  to  resign  on  the  plea  of  ill  health, 


1793.]  LA  VENDEE  CONQUERED.  529 

the  army  being  sent  to  Angers  to  re-form  under  Kle"ber.  If  the 
Vendeans  had  returned  to  the  Loire  directly  after  this  success,  they 
might  have  re-entered  their  country  in  triumph.  This  was  La 
Rochejaquelein's  feeling,  but  his  youth  outweighed  the  authority  his 
courage  gave  him,  and  the  other  leaders  argued  the  point  until  it 
was  too  late  ;  their  next  best  move  would  have  been  to  enter  Brit- 
tany and  excite  a  revolt,  but  they  hesitated,  went  to  Mayence,  then 
to  Fougeres,  which  they  took  and  pillaged,  shooting  numerous  pris- 
oners. English  despatches  determined  them  to  turn  from  Brittany 
to  Lower  Normandy,  the  English  government  renewing  its  offers  of 
help  on  condition  that  they  would  seize  some  seaport,  indicating 
Granville,  near  Jersey ;  and  thither  they  proceeded  by  way  of  Dol, 
Pontorson,  and  Avranches,  meeting  no  resistance.  They  repulsed  a 
sally  from  the  garrison  and  took  the  outskirts  of  Granville  (November 
13),  but  were  stopped  there  by  the  batteries  commanding  those  and 
the  shore.  The  inhabitants  fought  bravely,  even  the  women  being 
on  the  ramparts.  The  Vende'ans  had  neither  ladders,  petards,  nor 
anything  needed  for  an  assault.  The  ships  in  port  fired  on  them, 
and  prevented  their  turning  the  cliff  at  low  tide,  the  English  squad- 
ron not  coming  in  sight.  Next  day,  houses  in  the  outskirts  caught 
fire  from  the  shells,  the  soldiers  were  forced  to  leave,  and  the  rest 
of  the  Vendean  army,  regardless  of  its  leaders'  commands,  returned 
to  Avranches  in  great  disorder.  This  insured  the  ruin  of  their  cause : 
discouragement  took  possession  of  them,  they  had  but  one  wish,  — 
to  return  to  their  own  country;  and,  alas!  it  was  too  late.  La  Eoche- 
jaquelein  tried  to  lead  them  into  Normandy,  falling  midway  on 
Villedieu  with  a  body  of  picked  men  ;  the  national  guard  had  joined 
the  army  assembled  for  the  succor  of  Granville.  The  women  de- 
fended the  town  valiantly,  many  being  massacred,  but  Villedieu  was 
sacked.  La  Eochejaquelein  could  go  no  farther;  the  Vendean  army 
having  turned  south,  he  was  forced  to  follow,  instead  of  leading  it. 
Their  downfall  was  slightly  retarded  by  republican  mistakes.  Savari, 
one  of  their  best  historians,  compares  them  to  a  wounded  boar,  which 
gores,  as  it  expires,  such  awkward  hunters  as  fall  in  its  way.  The 
republican  army,  again  forming  at  Angers,  came  to  the  aid  of 
34 


530  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XVII. 

Eennes,  and  re-enforced  "the  army  of  the  Cotes  de  Brest,  Lechelle 
having  been  replaced  by  no  less  a  person  than  his  predecessor  Ros- 
signol,  wbom  the  faction  infatuated  with  him  had  imposed  anew 
upon  Carnot  and  the  army.  His  rash  inconsistency,  and  General 
Westermann's  foolhardy  fury,  caused  the  failure  of  measures  pro- 
posed by  Kleber  for  the  reduction  of  the  Vendeans ;  two  ill-concerted 
attacks  miscarried,  and  the  second  threw  the  republican  army  back 
upon  Rennes,  young  Barra  being  killed  in  the  contest  (November 
23) ;  he  was  but  thirteen,  and  fought  in  the  republican  ranks.  Sur- 
rounded by  insurgents  summoning  him  to  shout,  "  Long  live  the 
king  ! "  he  replied,  "  Long  live  the  republic ! "  and  fell  pierced  with 
wounds,  clasping  the  tricolor  to  his  heart.  His  body  was  taken  to 
the  Pantheon  by  order  of  the  Convention. 

Rossignol  had  the  sense  to  see  that  he  was  unfit  to  lead  an  army, 
and  resigned,  the  active  command  being  given  to  Kleber.  The 
Vendeans  profited  by  the  advantage  gained  to  move  slowly  towards 
the  Loire  by  way  of  Fougeres  and  Laval,  in  the  utmost  disorder, 
many  dropping  by  the  way.  They  had  but  four  or  five  thousand 
trusty  men  left,  three  or  four  thousand  more  serving  to  swell  the 
number,  but  unreliable  in  time  of  need.  Their  leaders  determined 
to  attack  Angers,  crossing  the  Sarthe  at  Sable*  and  the  Loire  at  La 
Fleche,  rather  than  risk  a  passage  at  Angers,  preferring  to  assault 
the  town  from  a  point  unprotected  by  water.  The  artillery  and 
musketry  on  the  ramparts  resisted  them  vigorously ;  three  or  four 
thousand  troops  of  the  line  hastened  to  Angers,  and  General  Beau- 
puy  from  Mayence,  although  wounded,  directed  the  defence,  assisted 
by  the  inhabitants,  several  women  being  killed  in  the  fray.  Suc- 
cess was  doubtful,  but  it  was  the  Vendeans'  last  hope ;  they  man- 
aged to  make  a  breach,  to  which  La  Rochejaquelein  and  four  of  his 
men  mounted,  but  none  would  follow,  though  promised  the  plunder 
of  the  city ;  the  starving  and  exhausted  peasants  had  lost  all  spirit. 
As  at  Granville,  they  fired  on  the  walls  for  two  days  in  vain ;  the 
4th  of  December,  threatened  on  both  sides  by  detachments  of  the 
republican  army  from  Rennes,  they  gave  up  the  attempt,  and, 
warned  that  the  road  to  the  Loire  was  blocked  by  Kleber,  turned 


1793.]  LA  VENDEE  CONQUERED.  531 

northward  towards  Le  Mans.  Their  men,  weakened  by  dysentery, 
died  by  hundreds,  despair  alone  enabling  them  to  cross  at  La  Fleche 
and  seize  Le  Mans,  where  they  shot  several  leading  patriots,  plun- 
dering friends  and  foes  alike  (December  10).  They  were  allowed 
but  twenty-four  hours'  rest,  the  republican  army,  re-enforced  by 
a  Norman  corps,  appearing  before  Le  Mans  on  the  12th,  led  by 
Marceau,  the  Committee's  last  and  best  choice.  La  Eochejaquelein 
cheered  on  the  flower  of  the  Vendean  army,  and  made  a  sally 
at  their  head,  repelling  the  republicans  for  a  time;  but  a  de- 
tachment from  Mayence  held  firm,  aided  by  Norman  troops,  so 
that  the  Vendeans  were  routed  and  driven  back.  General  Mar- 
ceau pressed  forward,  meaning  to  await  Kleber  farther  on ;  but  the 
fiery  Westermann,  commander  of  the  advance,  cried,  "  No,  no  !  On 
to  Le  Mans  !  The  enemy  is  shaken ! "  Westermann's  zeal  had  cost 
the  French  a  defeat  at  Dol :  it  now  gained  them  a  victory,  for  the 
enemy  was  so  hotly  pressed  that  the  very  heart  of  the  city  was  gained, 
where  the  bravest  of  the  Vendeans  rallied  behind  a  barricade  at  the 
entrance  to  the  Place  de  1'fiperon ;  but  the  republicans  took  it,  and 
the  cannon  defending  it,  by  storm,  the  Vendeans  firing  on  them 
from  the  houses.  Night  came  on,  and  Marceau  suspended  his 
attack,  maintaining  his  position  until  Kleber  came  up  next  morn- 
ing, when  the  Vendeans  dropped  their  arms  and  fled,  most  of  them 
having  left  Le  Mans  by  night  in  wild  confusion,  many  being  slain 
by  the  way.  According  to  their  own  account  fifteen  thousand 
perished ;  the  survivors,  travelling  day  and  night,  reached  Laval, 
turning  thence  to  the  Loire,  and  arrived  at  Ancenis  December  16 ; 
but  the  boats  were  all  on  the  other  shore.  La  Eochejaquelein 
ordered  rafts  to  be  made,  embarking  himself  with  twenty  men  in 
two  small  skiffs  to  capture  some  large  craft  from  the  other  side. 
A  republican  detachment  came  up  and  prevented  his  rejoining  his 
army,  and  a  cannoneer  from  Nantes  swamped  their  rafts.  The 
wretched  Vendeans  vainly  strove  to  reach  Lower  Brittany,  wander- 
ing from  Ancenis  to  Blain  and  from  Blain  to  Savenay,  where  they 
again  encountered  the  republican  army.  Marceau  and  Kleber  sur- 
rounded and  destroyed  them  between  the  Loire  and  the  marsh  of 


532  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

Montoire,  December  28,  just  as  Hoche  was  expelling  the  Germans 
from  Alsace.  And  this  was  the  end  of  the  great  Vendean  army. 

"  This  war  of  the  peasants  and  brigands,"  wrote  De  Thionville  to 
General  Beaupuy,  "  which  has  been  so  scorned  and  despised,  has 
always  seemed  to  me  most  important  to  the  Republic." 

We  shall  return  to  the  frightful  course  of  extermination  at 
Nantes,  which  coincided  with  the  Vendean  disasters  in  the  North 
and  renewed  the  revolt  of  the  West ;  but  we  must  now  give  an 
account  of  the  civil  war  in  the  East. 

Dubois-Crance,  having  won  back  Dauphiny  and  Burgundy  to  the 
side  of  the  Convention  and  the  Mountain,  reached  Lyons  early  in 
August  with  several  thousand  soldiers,  and  he  and  his  co-represent- 
ative Gauthier  issued  proclamations  promising  the  Lyonnese  pro- 
tection, and  endeavoring  to  alienate  the  people  from  their  leaders, 
announcing  that  the  Convention  would  "pardon  even  the  guilty 
if  convinced  that  they  had  been  led  astray"  (August  8,  14,21). 
The  insurrectionary  authorities  of  Lyons  continued  to  protest  that 
they  were  republicans,  though  their  general,  the  president  and  secre- 
tary of  delegates,  and  the  secretary  of  the  Lyons  Committee  of  Pub- 
lic Welfare  were  royalists ;  Preci,  their  general,  was  in  active  corre- 
spondence with  agents  of  the  emigrant  princes,  who  promised  him 
foreign  aid.  These  leaders  did  their  utmost  to  prevent  the  people 
from  coming  to  terms,  not  only  forging  a  letter  to  ruin  Chalier,  but 
inventing  another  from  Danton,  filled  with  threats  against  the 
Lyonnese.  By  concealing  their  counter-revolutionary  aims,  and 
pretending  to  be  defenders  of  republican  liberty,  they  obtained 
twenty  thousand  signatures  to  a  haughty  response  to  the  repre- 
sentatives. "  If  we  do  not  receive  justice,"  they  wrote,  "  we  will 
bury  ourselves  beneath  the  city's  walls.  Advance,  and  you  shall 
feel  the  might  of  free  men  ! " 

Dubois-Crance's  feeble  means  of  action  encouraged  resistance ; 
the  besiegers  were  far  less  numerous  than  the  besieged ;  but  when 
the  Lyonnese  response  and  the  treachery  of  Toulon  destroyed  all 
hope  of  conciliating  the  Southeast,  the  Committee  set  to  work  to 
change  this  condition.  Artillery  was  sent  against  Lyons  from 


1793.]  TAKING  OF   LYONS.  533 

Besanqon  and  Grenoble,  with  fresh  troops  from  the  army  of  the 
Alps ;  others  were  levied  in  Auvergne,  Velat,  and  Vivaray,  although 
the  administrations  of  those  departments,  being  hostile  to  the  Moun- 
taineer party,  did  their  best  to  delay  the  work,  and  the  Auvergnese 
were  dissuaded  from  "  fighting  their  Lyonnese  brothers."  But  Cou- 
thon  and  two  other  Auvergnese  representatives  went  to  Clermont 
Ferrand.  The  former,  though  paralyzed,  being  carried  into  the  village 
pulpit,  inflamed  the  minds  of  the  peasants  by  his  fiery  words,  all 
Auvergne  kindling  like  powder.  The  rude  mountaineers  crowded 
from  Forez  to  Lyons,  and  Couthon  declared  that  he  had  "  uprooted 
the  rocks  of  Auvergne  to  hurl  them  upon  Lyons."  The  Lyonnese 
forces  occupying  St.  Etienne  and  Mont  Brison,  taken  between  the 
stream  of  peasants  from  Forez  and  Dubois-Crance's  troops,  were 
forced  to  make  a  hasty  retreat  to  Lyons,  which  was  then  completely 
surrounded.  Blockade  was  added  to  the  bombardment  begun  by 
Dubois-Crancd's  orders  when  his  summons  was  refused.  By  the 
middle  of  September  the  finest  quarters  of  Lyons  had  suffered 
cruelly,  the  superb  Quai  St.  Clair  being  a  mass  of  ruins.  Such 
calamities  excited  the  defenders  of  the  city  to  acts  of  daring,  but 
the  mass  of  the  people,  blindly  pushed  or  dragged  into  the  struggle, 
longed  to  submit  peaceably.  We  are  told  that  twenty  thousand 
men,  women,  and  children  left  the  city  and  begged  food  from  their 
assailants,  most  of  them  being  silk-weavers.  The  besieged  had  now 
no  hope  of  succor,  and  the  Piedmontese  who  had  reached  Savoy 
could  obtain  no  aid  from  Austria.  The  Austrian  government  would 
assist  the  king  of  Sardinia  to  conquer  France  only  on  condition  of 
receiving  Kovara  in  return.  The  selfish  rapacity  of  foreign  powers 
thus  continued  to  benefit  the  Republic.  Part  of  the  army  of  the 
Alps  drove  the  Piedmontese  from  Savoy,  the  rest  besieging  Lyons 
with  the  troops  raised  in  Auvergne,  their  number  rising  from  eight 
thousand  to  thirty-five  thousand  before  the  end  of  September.  Du- 
bois-Crance'  desired  to  reduce  Lyons  by  famine,  but  the  Committee 
were  in  haste,  wishing  to  concentrate  their  efforts  on  Toulon,  which 
it  was  so  perilous  and  so  humiliating  to  France  to  see  in  English 
hands,  and  Doppet,  a  Savoyard,  determined  to  make  a  bold  attack. 


534  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XVII. 

Dubois-Crance  had  already  taken  by  storm  the  redoubt  of  Oulins, 
which  protected  the  approach  to  Perrache,  a  peninsula  between  the 
Rhone  and  Saone  (September  23).  September  29  the  army  took  the 
heights  of  St.  Foi  overlooking  the  Saone  and  the  Mulatiere  bridge 
near  Perrache,  at  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers.  Couthon  came  up 
three  days  later  with  fresh  troops  from  Auvergne,  and  issued  a  final 
proclamation  to  the  Lyonnese,  October  7,  renewing  the  promises 
of  protection  to  all  such  as  had  "  committed  no  crimes,"  and  grant- 
ing them  until  four  o'clock  next  afternoon  to  yield.  Desolation  and 
famine  filled  the  town ;  the  leaders  restrained  the  people  by  terror 
alone,  four  men  being  shot  down.  The  wife  of  a  Mountaineer  mer- 
chant scoured  the  city,  stirring  up  the  weavers,  posting  proclama- 
tions, and  urging  the  people  to  the  town-halL  The  authorities  were 
forced  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  sections  (October  8),  deputies  were 
sent  to  Couthon  and  his  colleagues,  and  the  night  was  spent  by 
them  in  discussion.  Meantime  the  city's  fate  was  fixed.  A  repub- 
lican detachment,  seizing  a  redoubt,  entered  the  city  on  the  St.  Just 
side,  and  the  cannoneers  guarding  the  St.  Glair  bridge,  bribed  by 
"  Citoyenne  Eameau,"  —  the  woman  mentioned  above,  —  called  their 
besiegers  in  and  fraternized  with  them. 

At  daylight  Pre'ci,  general  of  Lyons,  left  the  city  with  a  few 
hundred  men,  part  of  whom  succeeded  in  passing  the  enemy's  lines, 
but  did  not  go  far,  being  overtaken  and  cut  to  pieces  a  few  leagues 
away,  Pre'ci  and  a  handful  of  soldiers  only  escaping  by  hiding  in 
the  wood.  The  victorious  foe  entered  Lyons  with  provisions  ;  Cou- 
thon, behaving  with  great  generosity,  forbade  pillage  on  pain  of 
death,  ordered  the  workshops  to  be  reopened,  and  tried  to  prevent 
all  revengeful  measures  by  the  Jacobins  of  Lyons,  as  he  desired  to 
preserve  this  great  industrial  centre  for  the  Republic.  Robespierre 
undoubtedly  held  similar  views ;  his  hatred  of  the  Girondists  once 
appeased,  he  would  gladly  arrest  the  fury  of  the  Reign  of  Terror ; 
but  Couthon  was  powerless,  and  the  Convention  and  Committee 
were  forced  to  yield  to  fearful  measures  which  destroyed  Lyons  and 
left  a  lingering  stain  on  the  pages  of  history. 

Lyons  taken,  attention  was  turned  to  Toulon.     The  enemy  were 


<a/\MBERT     INV  dhPMWCMAKER 


BONAPARTE     AT    THE     AGE     OF    TWENTY-FOUR. 


1793.]  BONAPARTE.  535 

inactive  in  Provence.  Carteaux  and  Lapoype  were  quartered  east 
and  west  of  Toulon,  —  one  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pass  d'Ollioules,  the 
other  at  Sollies-le-Pont  with  several  thousand  men,  to  prevent  the 
enemy's  advance.  Within  the  city  were  more  than  fifteen  thousand 
foreign  troops,  English,  Spanish,  Neapolitan,  and  Piedmontese,  sup- 
ported by  the  Anglo-Spanish  fleet,  a  small  corps  of  French  royalists, 
and  a  regiment  made  up  of  the  crews  of  ships  taken  from  France  by 
the  English  ;  but  discord  was  rife  among  allies  and  French  auxilia- 
ries :  the  Feuillants  and  counter-revolutionists  quarrelled ;  the  Eng- 
lish and  Spanish  were  jealous  of  each  other,  the  latter  urged  on  by 
monarchic  and  religious  fanaticism,  and  the  former  having  no  other 
object  than  the  preservation  for  their  own  purposes  of  the  port  and 
fleet  of  Toulon.  This  discord  prevented  the  enemy  from  forming 
a  concerted  plan  of  action  against  the  feeble  bands  of  Carteaux  and 
Lapoype,  which,  divided  by  the  cliffs  of  Faron  and  the  Pommets, 
could  not  have  helped  each  other  in  the  least.  Lyons  being  taken, 
it  was  too  late  to  do  anything ;  the  besiegers  were  re-enforced  to 
the  same  number  that  took  Lyons,  although  many  of  the  men  were 
raw  recruits,  who  had  never  handled  a  gun.  A  few  weeks  passed 
in  the  changing  and  shifting  of  officers.  General  Dugommier  at  last 
took  charge  of  the  siege,  five  representatives  meeting  in  camp, 
young  Robespierre  among  them,  as  his  brother  wished  him  to  play 
the  same  part  at  Toulon  as  Couthon  had  at  Lyons. 

The  question  now  was  to  find  the  best  plan  of  attack  against 
a  stronghold  defended  by  so  large  a  garrison  and  fleet.  Among 
the  besieging  artillery  was  a  young  captain,  Napoleon  Bonaparte  by 
name,  twenty-four  years  old,  born  in  Corsica,  of  Tuscan  stock.  He 
was  a  small,  thin,  nervous  youth,  pale  and  pensive,  with  a  broad 
forehead,  Roman  features,  and  an  eagle  glance.  Educated  at  the 
military  school  of  Brienne  in  France,  he  had  recently  returned  to 
Corsica  and  vainly  striven  to  repress  the  Separatist  movement  of 
one  Paoli,  an  old  Corsican  leader  of  revolts  against  Genoa  and 
France.  Corsica,  having  hailed  the  Revolution  of  1789  with  enthusi- 
asm, had  since  reacted  under  the  influence  of  Paoli  and  the  clergy, 
turning  from  the  French  Piepublic  in  May,  1792.  Young  Bonaparte, 


536  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XVII. 

proscribed  by  the  Separatist  party,  returned  to  France,  and  first 
made  his  mark  at  the  recapture  of  Avignon  from  the  Marseillaise 
insurgents  by  General  Carteaux.  During  the  autumn  Salicetti, 
also  a  Corsican  and  a  representative  sent  to  the  siege,  seeing  him 
on  his  way  to  join  the  troops  fighting  the  Piedmontese  at  Nice,  was 
struck  by  his  intelligence  and  military  skill,  and  employed  him  in 
the  siege.  Young  Kobespierre  also  took  a  lively  interest  in  him, 
and  he  soon  assumed  the  actual  command  of  the  artillery,  despite 
his  low  official  rank. 

The  attack  on  Toulon  was  an  immense  task  to  an  army  unpro- 
vided with  maritime  forces,  Toulon  being  protected  on  the  land 
side  by  the  cliffs  of  Faron  and  the  Pommets,  and  by  three  small 
streams ;  on  the  water  side  it  stands  at  the  head  of  a  double  bay, 
a  great  and  a  small  one,  an  inner  and  an  outer  one,  communicating 
by  a  narrow  strait  between  two  tongues  of  land.  The  enemy  had 
built  forts  on  the  cliffs  defending  the  land  side, — one  of  the  tongues 
of  land  commanding  the  two  harbors,  that  nearer  the  town  being 
defended  by  Fort  La  Malgue,  and  the  enemy  having  established 
intrenchments  on  the  other  (Cape  1'Eguillette),  which  they  called 
"  Little  Gibraltar,"  to  show  that  they  intended  making  a  second 
Gibraltar  of  Toulon. 

Bonaparte  carefully  studied  the  defences  of  the  place  and  the 
enemy's  position,  and  seized  upon  the  decisive  point.  He  saw  that 
Toulon's  fate  hung  upon  the  English  fleet,  its  position  at  the  head 
of  a  double  harbor,  apparently  its  strength  being  really  its  weak- 
ness, for  if  the  assailants  could  capture  Cape  1'Eguillette,  the  Eng- 
lish fleet  would  be  caught  in  the  trap  of  the  lesser  harbor,  and 
would  be  obliged  to  leave  at  once  or  be  sunk  by  the  French  batteries. 
He  accordingly  submitted  a  plan  to  the  Committee,  which  delighted 
Carnot  as  much  as  Hoche's  treatise  on  warfare  by  masses  did  once 
before.  He  adopted  Bonaparte's  idea,  combining  it  with  another 
originated  by  Dugommier.  Operations  began  at  once,  a  feigned  at- 
tack being  made  on  Fort  Malbousquet,  which  protected  Toulon  on 
the  Ollioules  side ;  the  enemy  were  deceived,  made  a  sally  in  that 
quarter,  and  were  repulsed  by  Dugommier  and  Bonaparte,  the  Eng- 


1793.]  ENGLISH  DRIVEN   FROM   TOULON.  537 

lish  General  O'Hara  being  captured  (November  30).  The  French 
artillery  then  stormed  the  works  on  Cape  1'Eguillette,  marching  upon 
the  great  redoubt  of  Little  Gibraltar  in  a  pouring  rain  on  the  night 
of  December  16.  Three  representatives,  Robespierre,  Salicetti,  and 
Ricord,  led  the  battalions,  sword  in  hand.  "  On ! "  cried  Dugommier 
to  Lieutenant  Victor  (afterwards  Marshal  and  Duke  de  Belluno), 
"  the  redoubt  must  be  taken,  or  ...  ."  He  drew  his  hand  across 
his  throat. 

It  was  taken.  Hundreds  of  brave  men  lined  the  ditches  with 
their  bodies ;  others  scaled  the  ramparts,  two  thousand  men  being 
killed  or  taken.  Three  thousand  who  occupied  the  other  works 
attempted  an  attack,  with  returning  day,  covered  by  cannon  from 
the  foreign  fleet,  but  were  driven  back  to  the  sea,  and  embarked 
that  night.  The  English  decided  to  evacuate  the  city,  and  com- 
pelled their  allies  to  submit,  the  inhabitants  soon  learning  that  Eng- 
land's only  idea  was  to  destroy  Toulon  and  its  navy,  as  she  could 
not  appropriate  them.  During  the  afternoon  Admiral  Hood  sent 
Commodore  Sydney  Smith  to  fire  the  magazines,  docks,  arsenal,  and 
French  ships.  The  galley-slaves  witnessing  the  preparations,  love 
of  country  awoke  in  their  guilty  souls :  they  revolted,  and  made  an 
effort  to  save  that  which  high  civil  and  military  authorities  had 
yielded  to  the  enemy,  and  Smith  was  forced  to  turn  his  cannon 
against  them  before  they  would  submit.  Night  came  on ;  Toulon 
was  in  flames ;  the  English  government  announced  that  the  inhabi- 
tants would  find  shelter  on  board  the  English  fleet,  and  a  frantic 
mob  rushed  to  the  wharf,  pushing  each  other  into  the  sea  in  their 
despair.  Boats  sank  beneath  their  loads,  and  trading-vessels  alone 
would  receive  the  fugitives,  the  men-of-war  keeping  them  off  by  force. 
Vessels  were  capsized,  and  the  harbor  was  filled  with  drowning  men. 
The  Spanish  admiral,  moved  by  compassion,  finally  consented  to 
receive  the  fugitives  ;  the  Neapolitans  did  the  same,  and  even  the 
English  yielded  in  the  end.  The  allied  fleet  then  set  sail,  carrying 
off  three  French  ships  of  the  line  and  nine  frigates.  Five  French 
vessels  manned  by  French  counter-revolutionists  having  been  sent 
to  sea  to  instigate  Brest  and  other  western  seaports  to  revolt. 


538  THE   FRENCH   REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XVII. 

The  convicts,  aided  by  the  first  French  detachment,  entering 
Toulon,  put  out  the  fire,  saving  the  arsenal,  rope-walk,  fifteen  vessels 
more  or  less  damaged,  and  eleven  frigates,  nine  vessels  being 
burned ;  and  next  day  (December  19)  the  army  and  representatives 
entered  the  guilty  and  unhappy  town.  Admiral  Trogoff  and  Provost- 
Marshal  DTmbert,  the  chief  criminals,  and  all  the  promoters  of  the 
high  treason,  escaped  punishment  by  flight,  leaving  behind  their 
accomplices,  who  had  hoped  to  evade  pursuit  by  obscurity.  But 
vengeance  was  let  loose  against  Toulon,  rising  to  its  height  when 
Eepresentative  Beauvais,  pale,  ragged,  and  hardly  to  be  recognized, 
was  led  from  the  cell,  where  his  colleague  Bayle  had  killed  himself 
to  escape  degradation,  and  when  three  hundred  Jacobins  who  had 
with  difficulty  escaped  from  a  burning  ship  where  they  had  been 
imprisoned  informed  the  representatives  that  the  dead  bodies  of 
patriots  had  been  hung  up  in  the  shambles,  by  the  royalists,  and  that 
one  citizen  was  hung  for  leading  a  body  of  Marseillaise  at  the  attack 
on  the  Tuileries  (August  10). 

Among  the  five  representatives  were  two  who  had  done  good 
service  against  the  counter-revolutionists  in  Provence,  but  who 
knew  neither  humanity  nor  principle,  —  the  journalist  Freron,  who 
rivalled  Marat  in  violence  during  the  early  part  of  the  revolution, 
and  the  ex-Count  de  Barras,  a  bold  and  vicious  adventurer.  These 
men  hoped  to  outdo  the  ferocities  of  which  Nantes  and  Lyons 
were  even  then  the  scene,  and  to  win  favor  with  the  Jacobins  by 
striking  the  "  infamous  city  "  with  an  awful  doom.  Young  Robes- 
pierre, who  displayed  such  fury  in  the  Convention  during  the 
struggle  between  the  Gironde  and  the  Mountain,  appeared  in  a  new 
aspect  in  Provence,  being  moderate  and  humane,  as  Couth  on  was  at 
Lyons.  But  his  brother  did  not  sustain  Couthon ;  terrorism  pre- 
vailed, and  before  returning  to  Paris  he  at  least  approved  the  execu- 
tions ordered  at  Toulon. 

Fre"ron  and  Barras  summoned  the  remaining  male  population  to 
meet  on  the  Champ  de  Mars,  a  revolutionary  jury  being  chosen  by 
the  three  hundred  patriots  freed  from  prison.  All  who  had  held 
office  under  Louis  XVII.,  or  received  English  pay,  were  singled  out, 


1793.]          ,     ENGLISH   DRIVEN   FROM  TOULON.  539 

and  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  of  them  were  con- 
demned and  shot  forthwith.  Dugommier  and  his  men  refusing  to 
assist  in  the  bloody  work,  Freron  and  Barras  called  in  a  regiment 
of  volunteers  from  the  fiercest  Jacobins  of  the  South,  and  the  execu- 
tions went  on  for  days,  Freron  boasting  that  he  ordered  the  death 
of  eight  hundred  Toulonese. 

The  recovery  of  Toulon,  expulsion  of  the  Germans  from  Alsace, 
and  destruction  of  the  Vendean  army,  all  in  one  week,  closed  the 
campaign  of  1793.  The  territory  of  the  French  Republic  was  freed 
from  civil  war,  save  in  a  few  remote  corners  of  La  Vendee  and 
Brittany,  and  saved  from  foreign  invasion  except  at  two  points: 
Valenciennes,  Conde,  and  Le  Quesnoy,  in  the  North,  were  still  in 
Austrian  hands,  and  the  Spanish  held  certain  points  of  the  Pyrenees 
and  on  the  sea-coast.  The  English,  after  failing  at  Toulon,  were  no 
more  successful  in  the  French  colonies.  Called  in  by  a  white  faction 
in  ravaging  San  Domingo,  they  contrived  to  get  a  good  footing ;  but 
on  the  Lesser  Antilles  the  English  and  emigrants  were  vigorously 
repulsed  by  the  naval  forces  and  patriotic  natives  of  Martinique. 

The  French  Republic  now  prepared  to  resume  the  offensive  in 
every  direction. 


540  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [QHAP.  XVIII. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued).  —  REIGN  OF  TERROR  IN  THE  PROVINCES. 
—  VEND^MIAIRE.  —  GERMINAL,  YEAR  II.  —  A  NEW  CALENDAR  RE- 
CHRISTENING  THE  MONTHS  INTRODUCED  LATE  IN  OCTOBER,  1793. 

October,  1703,  to  March,  1794. 

nnHE  preceding  chapter  displayed  the  brilliant  and  glorious 
I  aspect  of  1793 ;  but  we  must  now  revert  to  its  dark  side. 
Having  shown  the  Parisian  Eeign  of  Terror,  we  find  it  yet  more 
horrible  in  the  provinces,  where  it  was  let  loose  at  the  close  of  the 
civil  war.  We  have  already  given  our  readers  a  glimpse  of  its 
fury  in  Alsace,  which  was  even  greater  at  Toulon,  Nantes,  Lyons, 
and  other  points. 

Couthon,  as  we  said,  showed  signs  of  clemency  at  the  capture 
of  Lyons,  which  were  undoubtedly  shared  by  Robespierre ;  but 
though  they  desired  to  limit  the  Eeign  of  Terror  to  the  destruction 
of  the  Girondist  leaders,  Billaud-Varennes  and  Collot  d'Herbois, 
also  members  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  aimed  at  ex- 
terminating all  who,  as  they  thought,  opposed,  or  ever  had  opposed, 
the  Revolution ;  and  Barere,  moderate  at  first,  soon  followed  the 
lead  of  these  fanatics  ;  Carnot  was  preparing  for  Wattignies  in  the 
North,  and  Saint-Just  doubtless  urged  severe  measures.  Robes- 
pierre, fearing  that  the  Jacobins  would  think  him  weak  and  try  to 
depose  him,  abandoned  his  original  policy,  and  sided  with  the 
violent  party.  The  Convention  and  Committee  passed  an  order 
for  a  commission  to  inflict  military  punishment  on  the  Lyonnese 
counter  Revolutionists ;  the  houses  of  all  wealthy  citizens  were  to 
be  razed,  the  remnant  of  Lyons  to  lose  its  name,  and  be  called  the 
"Enfranchised  City,"  and  a  column  to  be  reared  amid  the  ruins, 


1793.]        REIGN   OF  TERROR   IN  THE  PROVINCES.  541 

inscribed,  "  Lyons  made  war  on  Liberty ;  Lyons  is  no  more ! " 
(October  12).  Kobespierre  himself  proposed  the  inscription. 

Couthon  tried  to  mitigate  this  severity  by  not  executing  it  to  the 
letter.  One  hundred  Lyonnese  insurgents,  taken  by  Preci's  men, 
were  shot ;  but  the  popular  commission,  formed  by  Couthon  and 
his  colleagues  against  the  fomenters  of  rebellion,  delayed  further 
action.  Couthon,  who  could  not  walk,  was  carried  in  a  chair  to 
the  Place  Bellecour,  where  he  struck  one  of  the  houses  with  a 
hammer,  saying,  "  The  law  smites  you ! "  But  after  this  seeming 
concurrence  with  his  orders,  very  few  houses  were  destroyed,  and 
a  proclamation  was  issued  forbidding  public  or  private  individuals 
to  take  part  in  any  arbitrary  arrest  or  other  act  of  violence.  These 
laudable  efforts  were  fruitless,  only  irritating  the  Jacobins  to  the 
extent  of  recalling  Couthon  by  his  own  request,  and  replacing  him 
by  Collot  d'Herbois  and  Fouche  (October,  1793).  The  union  of  two 
such  men  was  fataL  Collot,  a  provincial  actor,  was  infatuated,  and 
infatuated  others  with  his  theatric  eloquence ;  he  looked  upon  the 
Involution  as  a  tragedy  in  which  he  took  part,  and  used  the 
power  invested  in  him  to  enact  scenes  of  awful  grandeur  invented 
by  his  mad  imagination.  "  Republican  justice,"  he  wrote,  "  should 
strike  like  a  thunderbolt,  leaving  naught  but  ashes  behind.  The 
work  of  destruction  is  too  slow ;  the  explosion  of  gunpowder,  the 
devouring  activity  of  flame,  alone  can  express  the  omnipotence 
of  the  people,  whose  will  should  strike  like  a  flash  of  lightning ! " 
His  ambition  was  to  accomplish  miracles  of  bloodshed,  impossible 
to  any  king  or  "tyrant." 

Fouche  was  his  exact  opposite,  and  even  worse  than  he,  doing 
in  cold  blood  what  Collot  did  in  a  fit  of  frenzy.  He  was  intelligent, 
though  repulsive  in  aspect,  had  been  a  priest  and  believed  neither 
in  God  nor  republic,  serving  the  Revolution,  as  he  afterwards  served 
the  Empire  and  Restoration,  from  ambition  and  interest. 

All  the  violent  measures  held  in  check  by  Couthon  were  now  let 
loose.  "  The  drama  played  at  Lyons  by  Fouche'  and  Collot,"  says 
Louis  Blanc  in  his  "History  of  the  Revolution,"  "was  in  three 
acts,  —  war  on  landed  property,  on  personal  property,  and  on  man- 


542  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XVIII. 

kind.  They  therefore  chose  committees  for  devastation,  sequestra- 
tion, aud  condemnation;  and  the  work  of  vengeance  from  which 
Couthon  shrank  began." 

The  beautiful  houses  which  made  the  Place  Bellecour  one  of  the 
finest  in  Europe  crumbled  beneath  the  hammer ;  but  Collot  could 
not  carry  out  his  threat  of  annihilating  Lyons.  He  and  Fouche 
were  even  less  merciful  to  man  than  to  bricks  and  mortar.  Cou- 
thon's  commission  of  justice  to  the  people  was  set  to  work,  and  in 
less  than  a  month  one  hundred  and  thirteen  were  sentenced  to 
death;  but  this  was  not  enough,  —  it  was  not  extermination. 
Eonsin  came  up  (November  25)  with  a  detachment  of  the  revo- 
lutionary army,  composed  of  the  worst  elements,  who  caused  far 
more  disorder  than  they  suppressed,  and  Collot  seized  upon  them 
as  the  instrument  he  lacked,  forming  a  new  revolutionary  com- 
mission, which  did  away  with  the  judicial  forms  hitherto  observed, 
substituting  military  execution  for  the  too  tardy  guillotine,  two 
hundred  men  being  shot  down  at  one  time,  many  of  whom  were 
only  guilty  of  yielding  to  popular  feeling  or  of  drawing  some 
personal  hatred  or  cowardly  revenge  upon  themselves.  Between 
December  and  April  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty-two 
were  condemned  to  death,  and  the  number  of  victims  would  have 
been  greater  had  not  the  five  judges  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal 
dispensed  with  jurors  and  been  open  to  pity.  Two  of  them,  though 
ardent  Jacobins,  saved  more  than  half  the  accused.  Some  singular 
arrests  were  made.  Two  priests  were  sentenced  to  death,  —  one 
for  saying  that  he  had  little  faith  in  God,  and  the  other  for  declar- 
ing that  Christ  was  an  impostor.  They  had  thought  to  save  them- 
selves by  making  a  parade  of  irreligion  before  the  tribunal.  This 
wholesale  slaughter  did  not  produce  the  effect  that  Collot  desired, 
for  the  spectacle  of  death,  so  often  repeated,  inspired  indifference 
to  life,  —  the  people  becoming  careless  and  inanimate,  —  and  a 
plan  was  formed  for  exiling  them  and  colonizing  the  city  with 
Jacobins.  The  wretched  Lyonnese  made  one  effort  to  escape  the 
tyranny  that  was  destroying  them,  sending  a  petition  for  pardon 
to  the  Convention  on  the  20th  of  December,  and  imploring  that 


1793.]        REIGN  OF   TERROR  IN  THE  PROVINCES.  543 

there  might  be  an  end  to  the  "  unexampled  inhumanity  which  had 
followed  the  clemency  of  the  first  days  of  the  capture  of  their  city." 
But  Collot  hastened  to  Paris,  and  so  distorted  the  truth  as  to  make 
his  conduct  seem  admirable,  and  the  bloody  work  went  on  until 
the  prisons  were  empty. 

The  Terror  also  flourished  in  Provence;  after  the  fusillades  at 
Toulon,  a  revolutionary  tribunal  worked  for  months  in  that  ill-fated 
city,  condemning  numbers  to  the  guillotine ;  and  a  similar  commis- 
sion was  formed  at  Marseilles  after  its  recapture,  which  in  less  than 
five  months  acquitted  two  hundred  and  seventy-eight  and  con- 
demned one  hundred  and  sixty-two,  still  observing  some  show 
of  law  and  justice,  which  did  not  suit  Barras  and  Freron,  the 
tyrants  of  Provence,  who,  by  order  of  the  Convention,  not  only 
changed  Toulon's  name  to  "  Port-la-Montagne,"  but  on  their  own 
authority  christened  Marseilles  "the  Nameless  City."  They 
arrested  Maillet  and  Griaud,  the  president  and  accuser  of  the 
commission,  and  forming  a  military  commission  in  their  stead, 
sent  them  to  Paris,  where  they  were,  however,  acquitted,  and  its 
name  was  restored  to  Marseilles ;  but,  being  reinstated  in  office, 
they  became  much  more  severe  in  order  to  please  the  Jacobins, 
going  so  far  as  to  imprison  the  executioner  for  weeping  over  his 
horrid  task. 

It  seems  as  if  nothing  could  surpass  the  Lyons  horrors,  and  yet 
the  drownings  at  Nantes  were  worse  than  the  military  murders 
on  the  banks  of  the  Ehone.  The  Eeign  of  Terror  at  Nantes  was 
of  a  very  different  character  and  purpose  from  that  at  Lyons,  its 
pretext  being  to  defend,  not  to  punish,  the  city,  and  most  of  the 
victims  were  foreigners  and  enemies.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  Ven- 
dean passage  of  the  Loire  (October  19),  nothing  unusual  in  civil 
war  occurred ;  but  few  death-warrants  being  issued,  and  those  in 
return  for  barbarities  committed  by  the  insurgents  of  the  Marais. 
But  the  Vendean  invasion  of  the  region  north  of  the  Loire,  the 
republican  defeat  at  Laval,  fears  of  the  Vendean  and  Breton  coun- 
ter-revolutionists' return,  and  rumors  of  English  interference  pro- 
duced a  fearful  excitement  in  the  city,  whose  situation  was  deplor- 


544  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XVIII. 

able,  her  commerce  ruined,  and  surrounded  by  enemies  ever  since 
her  victorious  resistance  of  June  29.  Charette's  troops  still  lingered 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Lower  Loire,  and  the  rural  districts  were 
mostly  counter-revolutionary,  even  where  they  dared  not  take  up 
arms ;  the  royalist  party  within  the  town  were  still  in  communica- 
tion with  the  Vendean  army  and  prisoners ;  extreme  misery  pre- 
vailed among  the  lower  classes,  firing  them  against  the  "  brigands  " 
of  La  Vendee,  who  were  starving  the  city  and  mutilating  or  drown- 
ing their  republican  prisoners.  The  republican  citizens  had  broken 
the  patriotic  union  of  June  29,  and  the  Girondist  majority  pas- 
sively opposed  the  Mountain  minority,  which  was  now  in  power. 
Everything  conspired  to  inflame  the  Mountaineers,  and  brave  men 
whose  names  would  have  been  honored  had  they  died  on  the 
29th  of  June  became  butchers  under  the  fatal  force  of  one  man, 
Carrier,  whose  name  is  still  a  byword  of  horror.  He  was  a  deputy 
from  Upper  Auvergne,  and  had  been  an  attorney  at  Aurillac  in 
Cantal.  He  had  a  gloomy  face,  with  receding  forehead,  haggard 
eyes,  and  a  large  hawk  nose.  He  had  always  passed  for  an  honest, 
but  rough  and  passionate  man,  ranking  among  the  ultra  spirits 
of  the  Convention.  He  had  neither  Fouche's  cold  malice  nor 
Collet's  haughty  pretension  and  melodramatic  genius.  He  came 
to  the  West  on  a  terrible  mission,  which  he  thus  interpreted : 
"  destroy  or  be  destroyed ;  crush  the  royalists  or  become  their  vic- 
tim." He  was  wild,  nay,  delirious,  but  was  timorous  in  his  fury ; 
nervous,  ill  in  body  and  mind,  he  finally  became  a  madman, 
imbruted  by  drunken  orgies,  and  sane  but  on  one  important  point, 
—  co-operation  with  the  republican  efforts  against  the  Vendean 
army. 

Toward  the  end  of  October  Carrier  and  his  colleague  Francastel, 
a  man  without  mercy,  who  played  the  same  part  at  Angers  enacted 
by  Carrier  at  Nantes,  formed  a  military  commission,  which  tried 
more  than  eight  hundred  people,  mostly  accused  of  sympathy  with 
La  Vendee,  and  sentenced  two  hundred  and  thirty  within  six 
months ;  but  such  tardy  action  did  not  suit  Carrier's  feverish  im- 
patience, and  he  ordered  ninety-four  refractory  priests  to  be  impris- 


1793.]        EEIGN  OF  TERROR  IN  THE  PROVINCES.  545 

oned  in  the  hold  of  an  old  ship,  in  which  a  valve  was  opened  on 
the  night  of  the  17th  Brumaire  (November  7) ;  the  water  entered 
and  they  were  all  drowned.  Carrier  wrote  to  the  Convention  that 
they  "  perished  by  water,"  as  if  it  were  an  accident,  and  the  leaders 
of  the  revolutionary  committee  at  Nantes  connived  at  this  mon- 
strous act.  Soon  after  they  attacked  those  of  their  townsmen  who 
opposed  them,  arresting  one  hundred  and  thirty-two,  principally 
Girondists,  under  pretext  of  conspiracy,  and  sending  them  to 
Paris.  They  were  so  harshly  treated  on  the  road  that  several  died, 
only  one  hundred  and  ten  reaching  Paris.  Their  trial  fortunately 
dragged  on  until  after  the  end  of  the  Terror,  when  they  were  ac- 
quitted. The  sad  "Journey  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-two 
Men  of  Nantes,"  written  by  Villeneuve,  one  of  their  number,  is 
still  extant. 

The  prisoners  were  crowded  in  proportion  as  the  Vende*an  army 
disbanded,  all  who  could  be  captured  being  sent  to  Angers  or 
Nantes,  where  they  carried  the  seeds  of  dysentery  and  typhus. 

Intelligence  being  received  (December  5)  of  an  attack  on  Angers 
by  the  Vendeans  and  a  plot  concocted  in  the  prisons,  Carrier  and 
the  most  violent  members  of  the  committee  proposed  to  shoot  the 
prisoners  en  masse.  The  ex-bishop  of  Nantes,  head  of  the  local 
directory,  and  the  president  of  the  criminal  tribunal,  strongly  op- 
posed the  measure,  but  an  attempt  was  made  to  carry  it  out.  The 
military  commander  refused  to  act  in  the  matter,  in  which  he  was 
upheld  by  Bishop  Minee  and  his  directory,  so  that  Carrier  was 
forced  to  resort  to  drowning  his  prisoners,  announcing  (December 
10)  "an  event  no  longer  novel!"  "Last  night,"  he  wrote,  "fifty- 
eight  priests  were  drowned.  What  a  revolutionary  torrent  is  this 
Loire!"  Although  not  avowing  himself  the  author  of  the  deed, 
he  no  longer  tried  to  attribute  it  to  chance,  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  more  prisoners  perished  in  the  same  way  December  14. 
There  were  at  least  seven  of  these  drownings,  in  one  of  which  eight 
hundred  perished,  the  whole  number  swallowed  up  by  the  Loire 
approaching  two  thousand ;  but  there  was  no  drowning  of  children, 
and  no  "republican  marriages"  (that  is,  young  men  and  women 

35 


546  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XVIII. 

tied  together  and  thrown  into  the  water),  as  has  been  reported ;  the 
truth  is  bad  enough  without  such  additions.  Hundreds  of  corpses 
of  children  who  died  of  famine  and  disease  in  prison  were  thrown 
into  the  Loire,  and  typhus  raged  abroad.  The  Loire  did  not  keep 
these  horrors  secret,  but  threw  on  shore  the  bodies  of  those  drowned 
at  Nantes  and  shot  at  Angers,  and  the  Nantaise  authorities  forbade 
people  to  drink  the  infected  water. 

Matters  grew  worse  after  the  Vendean  defeats  at  Le  Mans  and 
Savenay,  and  even  Goulot,  the  most  cruel  of  the  committee,  desired 
amnesty  to  be  granted  them ;  but  Carrier  refused,  and  many  were 
killed  unheard,  or  imprisoned.  A  new  military  commission  arriv- 
ing in  the  train  of  the  victorious  army,  in  three  days  condemned 
to  death  six  hundred  and  sixty  insurgents  taken  at  Savenay ;  and 
then,  going  to  Nantes,  sentenced  two  thousand  more,  one  hundred 
of  whom  were  women.  German  deserters  were  employed  to  shoot 
them  in  case  French  soldiers  refused  so  vile  a  task.  The  Conven- 
tion did  not  order  this  massacre,  its  decrees  applying  only  to  emi- 
grant and  rebel  leaders,  but  apparently  abdicated  in  favor  of  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety,  which  was  in  turn  overruled  by  its 
bitterest  members,  who  winked  at  these  atrocities.  The  military 
commission  which  ordered  this  wholesale  slaughter  itself  shrank 
from  Carrier's  brutality,  Vaugeois,  the  public  accuser,  vainly  trying 
to  obtain  the  release  of  children  immured  in  prison.  He  was 
warned  that  Carrier's  agents  meant  to  drown  a  body  of  prisoners, 
comprising  women  and  children,  and  forbade  their  delivery,  upon 
which  a  furious  scene  took  place  between  Carrier  and  the  president 
of  the  commission,  causing  the  drownings  to  cease.  Carrier  had 
quarrelled  with  the  revolutionary  committee  shortly  before,  for 
sending  back  to  prison  men  whom  he  had  released !  The  scourge 
of  his  rule  was  not  confined  to  Nantes,  the  revival  of  the  Vendean 
war  being  chiefly  due  to  him.  Not  content  with  killing  the  rem- 
nant of  the  conquered  army,  he  ordered  the  troops  sent  to  La 
Vende'e  to  burn  and  ravage  all  before  them.  The  Bocage  would 
probably  have  yielded,  if  the  humane  policy  of  de  Thionville,  Philip- 
peaux,  and  the  MayenQaise  generals  had  been  pursued,  and  the 


1793.]        REIGN  OF  TERROR   IN  THE  PROVINCES.  547 

insurgents  of  the  Marais  would  have  been  promptly  put  down. 
But  the  peasants,  driven  to  despair  by  Carrier,  joined  Charette,  La 
Rochejaquelein,  and  Stofflet,  and  the  insurrection  was  renewed  by 
the  survivors  of  the  passage  of  the  Loire. 

Paris  was  well  aware  of  the  condition  of  Nantes,  Carrier  having 
been  denounced  to  Robespierre  by  a  confidential  agent,  almost  a 
lad,  Jullien  de  Paris,  who  aspired  to  be  a  second  Saint-Just.  Robes- 
pierre  having  taken  no  action  against  the  destroyers  of  Lyons,  hesi- 
tated to  punish  the  tyrant  of  Nantes,  but  Jullien  renewed  his 
entreaties,  and  when  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  ordered  him 
to  examine  into  his  conduct,  he  declared  that  if  France  cared  to 
save  Nantes  and  crush  the  reviving  La  Vendee,  Carrier  must  be 
recalled.  This  was  finally  done,  but  very  cautiously,  no  account 
of  his  behavior  being  required  of  him. 

The  Reign  of  Terror  was  almost  as  bad  under  Francastel  at 
Angers  as  at  Nantes  under  Carrier.  No  such  atrocities  were  known 
elsewhere,  though  Brest  and  other  Western  towns  suffered  greatly. 
The  Bordeaux  Reign  of  Terror  had  not  the  pretext  of  fierce  civil 
war  as  at  Lyons,  or  the  punishment  of  foreign  rebels  as  at  Nantes 
and  Angers  :  it  never  pushed  resistance  so  far  as  to  sustain  a  siege, 
and  submitted  to  the  Convention  October  16.  Though  the  execu- 
tions were  not  numerous  at  first,  they  were  most  unjust,  two  vicious 
men — Tallien,  a  former  leader  of  the  Paris  Commune,  and  Lacombe, 
president  of  the  revolutionary  commission  —  making  the  Terror  at 
Bordeaux  more  contemptible  if  less  bloody  than  elsewhere,  by  their 
extortion  and  debauchery.  Jullien  took  Tallien's  place  later  on, 
and  he  was  ruled  by  fanaticism,  not  vice.  Despite  his  honorable 
conduct  at  Nantes,  he  was  merciless  at  Bordeaux,  madly  pursuing 
and  sacrificing  the  noblest  victims. 

Berryat-Saint-Prix,  author  of  "Revolutionary  Justice,"  who  is 
very  severe  on  the  Reign  of  Terror,  remarks  that  "  the  Revolution 
unfortunately  borrowed  the  arms  of  fanaticism  and  despotism,  arbi- 
trary commissions  from  the  ancient  monarchy,  and  other  baleful 
practices  from  the  Inquisition.  The  evil  part  of  the  Revolution 
arose,  not  from  the  principles  of  1789,  but  from  the  traditions  and 
customs  of  the  old  regime." 


548  THE  FEENCH  EEVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XVIII. 

Twenty-one  thousand  five  hundred  revolutionary  committees  ex- 
ercised almost  unlimited  authority  in  the  communes,  condemning 
not  only  harmless  people,  but  even  patriots  who  offended  them, 
and  sparing  counter-revolutionists  who  catered  to  their  wants,  thus 
forming  with  a  central  government  of  immense  power  a  mixture  of 
local  despotism  and  anarchy.  The  Jacobins  of  1793  and  1794  made 
France  pay  dear  for  the  service  rendered  by  the  early  Jacobins,  and 
continued  by  them  in  insuring  supplies  and  army  recruits ;  and  the 
memory  of  their  tyranny  has  for  eighty  years  been  the  greatest 
obstacle  to  the  establishment  of  a  republic,  for  people  still  confound 
the  Eeign  of  Terror  with  the  republic,  not  knowing  that  the  latter 
existed  only  nominally  after  June  2,  1793,  being  replaced  by  a 
revolutionary  government,  or  dictatorship,  that  destroyed  republi- 
can liberty  and  was  supplanted  by  Napoleon's  dictatorship.  The 
horror  inspired  by  the  Reign  of  Terror  is  natural,  but  history  proves 
that  others  as  bad  and  more  prolonged  existed  prior  to  the  French 
Revolution.  To  say  nothing  of  the  Armagnacs,  Burgundians,  and 
wars  of  the  Albigenses,  there  was  a  thirty  instead  of  a  two  years' 
terror  during  the  religious  wars  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  mas- 
sacre of  St.  Bartholomew  alone  destroyed  more  men  in  a  few  days 
than  were  slain  during  the  whole  Reign  of  Terror. 


1793.]  REPUBLICAN  CALENDAR,  549 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued).  —  REPUBLICAN  CALENDAR. — GODDESS 

OF  REASON.  —  COMMITTEE  OF  PUBLIC  SAFETY.  —  XRIAL  OF  THE 
HE"BERTISTS.  —  TRIAL  OF  THE  DANTONISTS.  —  VENDE"MIAIRE  TO 
GERMINAL,  YEAR  II. 

October,  1793,  to  April,  1794. 

AS  Nature  moves  on  amid  storms  and  earthquakes,  passing 
through  apparent  disorder,  in  accordance  with  fixed  laws, 
towards  the  goal  fixed  by  its  Author,  so  the  French  Eevolution, 
amid  the  tempests  of  war  and  frightful  convulsions  of  the  Eeign  of 
Terror,  pursued  its  efforts  to  reorganize  society.  People  felt  vaguely 
that  it  was  no  mere  change  of  political  forms  and  civil  institutions, 
but  the  beginning  of  a  new  world,  or,  rather,  of  a  moral,  scientific, 
and  religious  renovation.  In  the  domain  of  science  we  have  noticed 
the  great  step  taken  in  fixing  the  unity  of  weights  and  measures. 
The  Convention  now  decided  on  a  bolder  step,  namely,  to  change 
the  measure  of  time  by  reforming  the  calendar,  called  Gregorian 
in  honor  of  its  founder,  Pope  Gregory  XIIIC  in  1582,  and  which 
only  partially  repaired  the  errors  of  the  previous  one.  They  also 
resolved  to  change  the  general  arrangement  of  the  year ;  there  being 
no  reason  for  beginning  it  in  January,  an  epoch  according  neither 
with  the  seasons  nor  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  they  concluded  to  go 
back  to  Greek  and  Oriental  traditions,  and  begin  the  year  like  the 
ancient  Egyptians,  with  the  autumnal  equinox,  the  period  at  which 
the  Ptepublic  was  proclaimed,  and  to  change  the  Christian  era,  the 
date  from  which  the  years  have  for  eighteen  centuries  been  reck- 
oned, decreeing  that  "  the  French  era  should  date  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Republic." 

The  learned  Romme,  reporter  for  the  commission  in  this  matter, 


550  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

proposed  to  adopt  the  Egyptian  and  Babylonian  division  of  the 
year  into  twelve  months  of  thirty  days  each,  plus  five  comple- 
mentary days  each  year,  and  one  supplementary  day  every  four 
years,  approaching  as  nearly  as  possible  the  true  time  of  the  earth's 
annual  revolution  round  the  sun,  —  365  days,  5  hours,  48  minutes, 
and  49  seconds,  —  to  divide  each  month  into  three  decades  by  the 
decimal  system,  and  to  change  the  names  of  months  and  days  to 
suit  the  facts  and  ideas  of  the  Eevolution.  His  divisions,  but  not 
his  names,  were  adopted,  the  Convention  preferring  those  chosen 
by  the  poet  Fabre  d'Eglantine,  the  friend  of  Danton  and  Des- 
moulins. 

Nothing  was  more  natural  than  to  change  the  names  of  the 
months,  some  of  which  are  understood  by  scholars  only,  and  others 
of  which  are  absurd,  as  September  (the  seventh  month)  which 
is  the  ninth,  and  so  on.  D'Eglantine  substituted  melodious  names, 
summing  up  the  phenomena  of  the  seasons,  —  Vendemiaire,  the 
vintage  month ;  Brumaire,  the  foggy  month ;  Frimaire,  the  frosty 
month ;  Mvose,  the  snowy  month ;  Pluviose,  the  rainy  month ; 
Ventose,  the  windy  month;  Germinal,  the  month  of  buds  and 
germs ;  Floreal,  the  month  of  flowers ;  Prairial,  the  month  of 
meadows ;  Messidor,  the  harvest  month ;  Thermidor,  the  hot  month  ; 
and  Fructidor,  the  month  of  fruits.  The  names  of  the  days,  which 
are  no  more  rational  than  those  of  the  months,  being  only  corrup- 
tions of  those  of  fabulous  deities,  were  replaced  by  simple  numerals, 
—  Primodi,  Duodi,  etc.  This  calendar  went  into  operation  October 
25,  the  4th  of  Brumaire,  year  II.  of  the  Eepublic,  and  was  aban- 
doned by  Napoleon  on  his  accession. 

In  the  moral  and  religious  order  the  changes  were  not  so  good 
as  in  the  scientific.  Many  just  laws  had  been  enacted  since  the 
Federation  of  1790 ;  that  sublime  preface  to  the  book  of  the  fu- 
ture and  the  Eevolution  built  in  every  municipality  an  altar  to 
the  country,  inscribed  with  the  chief  acts  of  civil  life,  thus  giving 
a  religious  character  to  the  chief  magistrate,  who  represented  the 
country,  confirming  and  consecrating  those  acts  formerly  solemnized 
by  Eoman  Catholic  priests.  This  great  innovation  would  have 


1793.]  REPUBLICAN   CALENDAR. 

been  complete,  if  all  these  acts  as  well  as  the  political  Constitution 
had  been  committed  to  the  care  of  God.  But  the  Eevolution  had 
not,  and  has  not  after  a  lapse  of  eighty  years,  any  clear  idea  of  its 
highest  task.  The  Girondists,  absorbed  in  thoughts  of  personal 
liberty,  were  not  religiously  inclined,  and  Robespierre's  idea  of 
social  religion  was  narrow  and  non-progressive,  so  that  there  was 
ample  room  for  a  strange  movement,  begun  in  Paris  by  Chaumette 
and  Clootz.  The  former  has  often  figured  in  our  pages,  generally 
in  a  bad  light,  —  as  a  factious  spirit,  by  turns  violent  and  base,  dis- 
honored by  his  intimacy  with  that  most  contemptible  of  wretches, 
Hebert,  and  playing  a  detestable  part  in  the  trial  of  the  Girondists. 
Nevertheless,  there  was  in  this  man  an  incomprehensible  mixture 
of  good  and  evil,  susceptible  to  all  impressions  and  temptations. 
His  mind  was  chaotic  in  the  extreme.  He  was  capable  of  enthusi- 
asm for  the  public  good  and  humanity.  He  opposed  immorality, 
suppressed  lotteries,  encouraged  art  and  learning,  effected  great 
reforms  in  the  management  of  hospitals,  the  treatment  of  the  blind 
and  insane,  abolished  whipping  in  public  schools,  established  the 
first  lying-in  hospital,  persuaded  the  Convention  to  open  a  home 
for  the  children  of  condemned  persons,  to  pension  the  widows  and 
children  of  Girondists,  and  to  order  an  "  equality  of  sepulture," 
or  decent  burial  for  rich  and  poor,  both  alike  being  shrouded  in 
a  tricolored  flag, -in  which  children  were  likewise  wrapped  when 
carried  to  the  mayoralty  for  the  registration  of  their  births,  to 
symbolize  that  the  citizen  belongs  to  his  country  both  in  birth  and 
death.  But  despite  all  his  good  qualities,  he,  like  many  others 
in  their  reaction  against  the  old  regime  and  religion,  was  seized 
with  a  blind  hatred  of  all  religious  ideas :  being  a  fanatic  atheist 
as  others  are  fanatic  devotees.  Hebert  had  the  detestation  of  faith 
in  God  which  criminals  feel  for  any  moral  restraint,  while  Chau- 
mette and  many  of  those  ill-balanced  minds  dreamed  of  and  sought 
to  realize  a  religion  without  a  God.  They  were  led  on  by  a  man 
of  even  broader  mind  and  livelier  imagination,  Clootz,  who  had 
taken  the  Greek  name  Anarcharsis  ;  a  German  baron  from  Cleves 
on  the  Lower  Rhine,  devoted  body  and  soul  to  the  Eepublic,  and 


552  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

anxious  to  make  France  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  Paris  the 
capital  of  mankind.  He  was  a  Pantheistic  philosopher,  and  not 
a  vulgar  atheist,  confounding  God  and  nature,  Creator  and  creation, 
and  adoring  what  he  called  the  great  Whole,  but  with  so  bitter 
a  hatred  of  priests  as  to  lead  him,  the  enthusiastic  apostle  of 
humanity,  to  glorify  the  September  massacres ! 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Revolution  religious  violence  was  purely 
political,  not  attacking  worship  per  se;  but  in  the  autumn  of  1793 
an  attack  was  made  on  Catholicism,  the  legal  worship.  People  were 
no  longer  content  to  transform  gold  and  silver  church  ornaments 
into  money,  and  the  bronze  and  copper  ones  into  bullets  and  can- 
non, but  destroyed  statues  and  altars  in  various  places.  Represent- 
atives  sent  on  missions  encouraged  these  demonstrations,  and  the 
ex-priest  Pouche"  urged  the  authorities  of  Nevers  to  suppress  wor- 
ship and  send  their  church  treasures  to  the  Convention.  Emis- 
saries from  revolutionary  committees,  with  similar  gifts,  more 
than  once  appeared  before  the  Convention  arrayed  in  mitres, 
copes,  and  chasubles,  which  they  had  stolen  from  sacristies.  The 
Paris  sections,  at  the  instigation  of  Hebert  and  Chaumette,  called 
on  the  Convention  to  cut  off  the  salaries  of  the  clergy.  Clootz 
now  struck  a  decisive  blow  by  inducing  Archbishop  Gobel  of  Paris, 
who  no  longer  believed  in  the  dogmas  of  the  Church,  to  resign  his 
office,  and  a  formal  demonstration  was  prepared,  with  Chaumette's 
approval.  On  the  7th  of  November,  Gobel,  his  vicar,  and  many 
of  the  Parisian  curates  appeared  before  the  bar  of  the  Convention, 
accompanied  by  the  local  and  municipal  authorities,  and  Gobel 
declared  that  the  only  national  worship  was  the  worship  of  Liberty 
and  Equality,  and  renounced  his  office  as  a  minister  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  his  followers  also  laying  down  their  priestly  credentials. 
Chaumette  asked  that  this  day,  wherein  Reason  resumed  her  sway, 
might  be  placed  among  the  brilliant  dates  of  the  Revolution,  in  the 
new  calendar,  and  Laloi,  the  president  of  the  Convention,  replied 
that  "  the  practice  of  social  and  moral  virtues  was  the  only  worship 
acceptable  to  God,"  thus  arraying  himself  against  Catholicism  and 
atheism  alike.  Thomas  Lindet,  bishop  of  Evreux,  and  brother  of 


1793.]  THE  GODDESS  OF  REASON.  553 

Eobert  Lindet,  with  two  other  bishops  and  several  priests,  members 
of  the  Convention,  also  renounced  their  offices,  as  did  a  Protestant 
minister  from  Toulouse,  and  Bishop  Lindet  proposed  that  civic 
festivals  should  take  the  place  of  religious  ones.  Gregory,  bishop 
of  Blois,  was  urged  to  follow  his  colleagues'  example.  He  was  a 
Jansenist,  and  as  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity  as  he  was 
opposed  to  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope.  "  You  talk  of  sacrifices  to 
the  country,"  said  he.  "  I  am  accustomed  to  them.  Is  this  a  ques- 
tion of  love  of  liberty  ?  I  proved  mine  long  since.  Do  you  want 
my  salary  ?  Take  it.  Is  it  a  question  of  religion  ?  That  is  beyond 
your  domain.  I  was  beset  to  accept  the  burden  of  the  bishopric 
at  a  time  when  it  was  hedged  with  thorns ;  I  am  again  beset  to 
lay  it  down,  but  it  shall  not  be  wrested  from  me.  I  have  tried  to 
do  good  in  my  diocese ;  and  I  remain  a  bishop  to  continue  to  do 
so.  I  invoke  liberty  of  worship."  "  No  one  shall  be  forced ! "  was 
the  general  exclamation.  His  resistance  was  respected,  for  every 
one  knew  that  the  Eevolution  and  Republic  had  no  more  devoted 
follower. 

Chaumette,  however,  went  on,  and  obtained  an  order  from  the 
general  council  of  the  commune  for  a  festival  in  honor  of  the  fall 
of  fanaticism,  to  be  held  in  the  "  ci-devant  metropolitan  church"  of 
Notre  Dame  (November  20, 10  Brumaire).  A  mountain  of  painted 
wood  was  built  in  the  choir,  on  which  was  erected  a  Temple  of 
Eeason,  lighted  by  the  "  lamp  of  truth,"  and  the  Parisian  author- 
ities, escorted  by  young  girls  dressed  in  white,  ranged  themselves 
below,  while  Eeason,  represented  by  Mademoiselle  Maillard,  a 
famous  singer,  came  forth  to  receive  their  homage;  thence  she 
was  led  to  the  Convention  with  music.  She  wore  a  white  robe 
and  sky-blue  mantle,  with  a  liberty-cap  on  her  head  and  a  pike 
in  her  hand ;  and  the  people,  who  cared  nothing  for  the  abstractions 
of  Clootz  and  Chaumette,  took  her  for  an  image  of  Liberty  and  the 
Eepublic.  The  Convention  received  the  party  with  applause,  the 
Goddess  of  Eeason  being  asked  to  sit  beside  the  President  on  the 
demand  of  the  commune.  Notre  Dame  was  rechristened  the  Temple 
of  Eeason,  and  the  goddess  was  reconducted  thither  "  to  sing  the 


554  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

Liberty  Hymn  in  the  midst  of  the  people."  But  the  people  were 
cold :  Catholic  feasts  could  not  be  replaced  by  a  pasteboard  temple 
and  an  actress  dressed  as  Eeason. 

The  Convention  took  another  step,  and  ordered  churches  and 
parsonages  to  be  used  as  school-houses  and  poor-houses,  thus  effect- 
ually preventing  public  and  official  worship,  and  the  feasts  of  Eea- 
son both  at  Paris  and  elsewhere  soon  degenerated  into  mere  orgies, 
disreputable  women  playing  the  part  of  goddesses,  and  enacting 
bacchanals  in  the  churches.  These  scandals  hastened  a  political 
crisis  and  aggravated  the  Eeign  of  Terror. 

On  the  19th  of  Brumaire  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  under 
the  painter  David,  a  partisan  of  Eobespierre,  ordered  the  arrest 
of  a  deputy  named  Osseliu  on  a  charge  of  sheltering  an  emigrant 
woman.  Next  day,  at  the  urgent  request  of  Danton's  friend, 
Thuriot,  the  Convention  reconsidered  the  matter,  and  decided  that 
representatives  of  the  people  should  no  longer  be  sentenced  un- 
heard, as  in  this  case.  Hebert  raised  a  storm  at  the  Jacobin  Club, 
called  this  resolve  counter-revolutionary,  and  caused  Thuriot  and 
Lacroix,  another  of  Danton's  friends,  to  be  expelled  from  the  soci- 
ety. Under  the  double  pressure  of  the  committees  and  the  Jaco- 
bins, the  order  was  repealed.  Eobespierre  took  no  personal  part  in 
the  debate,  but  on  the  27th  and  28th  of  Brumaire  (November  17 
and  18),  he  and  Billaud-Varennes  presented  reports  to  the  Con- 
vention on  the  civil  and  foreign  condition  of  the  Eepublic.  Eobes- 
pierre wrote  the  latter,  and  while  his  ideas  of  the  machinery  of 
war  were  absurd,  his  picture  of  the  situation  showed  deep  insight. 
In  summing  up  the  great  events  of  1793,  he  said:  "We  have 
crowded  centuries  into  a  single  year  ! "  In  this  part  of  his  report 
he  used  the  ideas  of  the  Girondists  whom  he  killed ;  it  might  have 
been  signed  by  Brissot  himself ;  he  ended  thus :  "  The  people  hate 
excess,  they  wish  their  defenders  to  do  them  honor,"  referring  to 
Hebert's  contemptuous  treatment  of  the  people,  in  addressing  them 
in  thieves'  slang,  in  his  newspaper. 

Danton  had  been  absent  through  illness,  but  was  now  conva- 
lescing at  his  mother's  house  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  where  he  heard 


1793.]  COMMITTEE  OF   PUBLIC  SAFETY.  555 

of  the  death  of  the  Girondists.  Tears  sprang  to  his  eyes.  "  They 
•were  guilty  of  sedition ! "  said  the  friend  who  brought  him  the  news. 
"  No  more  so  than  the  rest  of  us ;  we  all  deserve  death  as  much  as 
they ;  we  shall  all  submit  to  the  same  fate  in  our  turn ! "  He 
had  meditated  sadly  and  at  length  on  the  state  of  the  country 
during  his  peaceful  retreat  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  whither  he  had  been 
accustomed  to  resort  from  time  to  time,  even  in  the  most  stormy 
epochs  of  his  life,  to  seek  a  moment  of  forgetfulness  in  the  bosom 
of  his  family  and  nature.  He  bade  adieu  to  his  aged  mother,  his 
children,  and  his  native  place,  which  he  was  nevermore  to  see,  and 
returned  to  Paris,  his  soul  filled  with  a  single  desire,  —  to  put  an 
end  to  the  Reign  of  Terror  and  establish  peace.  He  had  some  hope 
of  Eobespierre's  sympathy  in  his  efforts,  and  -also  relied  on  the 
liberal  party  in  the  English  Parliament,  led  by  Fox,  who  fully 
agreed  in  his  views.  Danton  knew  that  peace  could  only  be  won 
by  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  but  he  wanted  France  to 
make  peace  with  foreign  powers,  which  Eobespierre's  tone  and  con- 
duct were  ill  calculated  to  do.  He  found  the  Convention  occupied 
with  Billaud's  report,  in  which  he  urged  the  need  of  concentration 
to  insure  the  execution  of  the  law,  and  proposed  that  a  bulletin 
of  the  laws  should  be  issued  daily,  and  read  publicly  every  tenth 
day.  The  "  Bulletin  of  the  Laws "  is  still  published,  though  it 
is  no  longer  read  aloud.  His  plan  placed  all  constitutional  bodies 
and  public  officers  under  the  inspection  of  the  Committees  of  Public 
Welfare  and  General  Safety,  and  subordinated  the  ministry  to  the 
former,  which  was  to  control  all  measures  for  the  common  welfare, 
the  latter  controlling  the  police  and  general  public.  He  also  wished 
to  suppress  general  councils  in  the  departments,  and  to  strip  local 
authorities  of  all  political  attributes,  while  district  councils  were 
maintained,  to  be  accountable  every  ten  days  to  the  two  committees. 
The  execution  of  the  laws  devolved  on  municipalities  and  revolu- 
tionary committees,  the  Paris  sectional  committees  being  in  direct 
correspondence  with  the  Committee  of  General  Safety  instead  of 
with  the  commune  and  district  attorneys,  being  replaced  by  na- 
tional agents,  chosen  by  both  committees.  He  furthermore  recom- 


556  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

mended  that  all  subordinates  should  be  forbidden  to  issue  procla- 
mations, to  interpret  or  modify  the  literal  sense  of  the  law,  and  that 
none  but  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  ministers  and  represent- 
atives on  missions  should  be  allowed  to  send  agents  invested  with 
public  authority,  that  there  should  be  no  concerted  action  of  popular 
societies,  no  forming  of  central  assemblies,  no  raising  of  taxes  save 
by  order  of  the  Convention,  and  no  domiciliary  visits  unless  by 
civil  authorities,  etc.  This  bold  plan  broke  the  Paris  commune, 
and  made  representatives  absent  on  missions  dependent  on  the 
Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  constituting  it  a  dictatorship,  and 
making  the  other  committee  subordinate  to  it.  The  latter  was 
divided  into  three  groups,  —  the  ultra-terrorists,  Billaud,  Collot, 
and  Barere ;  the  organizers  of  the  national  defence,  Carnot,  Prieur, 
Lindet,  and  Jean  Bon-Saint-Andre",  who  was  absent  on  a  semi- 
permanent mission  to  the  seaports,  trying  to  reorganize  the  navy, 
demoralized  by  the  emigration  of  officers  and  the  Toulon  disorders ; 
and,  finally,  the  men  of  system  and  political  authority,  known  as 
"  men  of  the  high  hand,"  Robespierre,  Saint-Just,  and  Couthon. 

These  minds,  so  diverse  in  most  things,  were  alike  in  their  tireless 
activity,  entire  absorption  in  the  Revolution,  and  their  freedom 
from  pecuniary  considerations.  They,  the  much-dreaded  rulers  of 
France  and  conquerors  of  Europe,  lived  more  economically  than 
many  a  humble  clerk,  and  the  worst  of  them,  odious  and  fanatic 
as  they  were,  had  noble  qualities. 

Barere  joined  the  terrorists  from  fear,  excitement,  and  ambition 
to  lead  the  most  violent  party,  a  post  for  which  he  had  some  requi- 
sites, —  great  facility  for  work,  versatility,  and  a  brilliant  delivery, 
which  made  his  reports  to  the  Convention  most  popular ;  the  sol- 
diers considering  them  in  the  light  of  a  reward,  and  calling  them 
"  Carmagnoles." 

As  for  the  men  of  the  high  hand,  Robespierre,  so  good  a  tactician 
in  an  assembly,  had  little  practical  business  knowledge,  and  Saint- 
Just,  though  so  well  fitted  for  action,  was  exasperatingly  proud. 
The  imperious  pressure  exercised  by  these  two  wounded  their  col- 
leagues, although  they  appreciated  their  services.  Carnot  and  the 


1793.]  COMMITTEE  OF  PUBLIC   WELFARE.  557 

organizers  felt  that  public  welfare  required  the  concentration  of 
power  in  the  Committee,  and  nothing  could  persuade  them  to  de- 
stroy its  unity.  This  led  to  terrible  consequences,  for  while  they 
themselves  were  just  and  humane,  and  saved  what  lives  they  could, 
they  yet  felt  bound  to  submit  to  the  Reign  of  Terror.  They  opposed 
terrorist  measures,  but  assented  to  them  if  the  majority  approved, 
often  signing  measures  they  did  not  understand,  in  virtue  of  an 
agreement  that  each  member  should  reign  supreme  in  his  own 
department.  This  arrangement  was  owing  to  the  multiplicity  of 
business  brought  before  the  Committee,  which  often  worked  from 
fifteen  to  eighteen  hours  a  day,  never  suspending  its  labors  amid 
crises  of  life  and  death.  "  How  often  we  began  a  lengthy  work  in 
the  full  conviction  that  we  should  never  live  to  finish  it ! "  says 
Carnot.  Posterity,  while  condemning  those  who  controlled  the 
domestic  policy  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  absolves  and 
extols  the  great  organizers  of  the  national  defence,  though  it  cannot 
sanction  the  doctrine  that  public  welfare  is  to  be  secured  at  any 
price.  Justice  alone  is  welfare.  What  are  revolution  and  repub- 
licanism, if  not  justice  ?  Would  national  independence  have  died 
if  its  glorious  defenders  had  agreed  with  Danton,  Cambon,  and  the 
Mountaineers,  who  submitted  with  a  shudder  to  the  twofold  op- 
pression of  Robespierre  and  the  terrorists  ?  Did  Danton  do  his 
utmost?  Events  must  show. 

November  20  (30  Brumaire)  a  scandalous  scene  occurred  in  the 
Convention.  Bands  of  men  arrayed  in  sacerdotal  ornaments  stolen 
from  the  sacristies  appeared  before  the  Assembly  laden  with  the 
spoils  of  St.  Koch  and  St.  Germain-des-Pres,  dancing  and  singing, 
"  Marlborough  is  dead ! "  round  a  mortuary  flag  depicting  the  burial 
of  fanaticism ;  and  the  president  and  Assembly  weakly  permitted 
this  masquerade.  Next  day  Robespierre  declared  himself  at  the 
Jacobin  Club.  "  Liberty  of  worship  is  violated  in  the  name  of  free- 
dom ! "  he  cried.  "  The  people's  dignity  is  insulted  by  absurd  farces ! 
It  has  been  supposed  that  by  receiving  civic  offerings  the  Conven- 
tion has  proscribed  the  Catholic  religion.  It  has  not  done  this,  and 
it  never  will.  He  who  prevents  the  mass  from  being  said  is  more 


558  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

fanatical  than  he  who  says  it.  There  are  men  who  pretend  to  make 
a  religion  of  atheism.  Every  individual  may  think  in  this  respect 
as  he  likes,  but  the  legislator  would  be  mad  who  should  adopt  such 
a  system !  Atheism  is  aristocratic.  The  idea  of  a  great  Being  that 
watches  over  oppressed  innocence  and  punishes  triumphant  crime 
is  wholly  democratic.  The  French  people  care  neither  for  priests, 
superstition,  nor  religious  ceremonies,  but  they  cling  to  the  idea  of 
a  mysterious  Power,  dread  of  crime,  and  support  of  virtue."  He 
ended  by  denouncing  a  "  foreign  faction  "  which  sought  to  dishonor 
the  Re  volution,  and  by  proposing  that  the  Jacobin  Club  should  be 
purged  and  purified.  Hebert,  who  provoked  this  outburst,  did  not 
reply,  but  Chaurnette  tried  to  resist,  and  persuaded  the  commune 
to  close  all  churches  (Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic),  and  to  arrest 
any  one  who  demanded  their  reopening. 

Three  days  later  (November  26)  Danton  spoke,  urging  the  Con- 
vention never  again  to  permit  "  anti-religious  masquerades  "  within 
its  walls.  "  As  we  have  not  honored  the  priests  of  error  and  fanati- 
cism, let  us  not  honor  the  priests  of  unbelief."  He  demanded  a 
report  on  the  so-called  "  foreign  faction,"  and  declared  that  the  time 
for  mercy  was  at  hand.  He  proposed  the  institution  of  national 
feasts  in  honor  of  the  Supreme  Being,  saying,  "  We  did  not  destroy 
superstition  to  establish  atheism."  These  measures  were  adopted. 
Chaurnette  withdrew  his  opposition,  and  induced  the  commune  to 
decide  that  citizens  were  free  to  hire  houses  of  worship  and  employ 
what  ministers  they  chose ;  and  the  same  day  Hebert  denied  that  he 
desired  to  "  substitute  one  religion  for  another,"  protesting  against 
the  slanderous  accusation  that  Parisians  were  devoid  of  faith  or 
religion,  and  substituted  Marat  for  Jesus. 

Though  Chaumette  yielded  on  the  religious  question,  he  tried 
political  resistance.  Seeing  that  Billaud's  great  legal  scheme,  still 
in  discussion  by  the  Committee,  would  destroy  the  Commune  by  for- 
cing sectional  committees  to  correspond  only  with  the  Committee 
of  General  Safety,  he  convoked  the  sections  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
under  pretext  of  taking  measures  to  stop  arbitrary  arrests,  and  de- 
clared that  the  people  would  rise  in  re'volt,  talking  of  the  "  alarm- 


1793.]  THE  HEBERTISTS.  559 

bell  they  would  ring."  But  times  had  changed,  and  the  bell  did 
not  ring !  Billaud's  report  was  adopted  December  14,  and  the  com- 
mune which  had  so  oppressed  the  Convention  ended.  Robespierre, 
so  long  the  reluctant  ally  of  Hebert  and  Chaumette,  had  conquered 
them.  But  although  communistic  excesses  were  put  down,  those 
of  the  revolutionary  committees  were  still  allowed  in  Paris  and  the 
departments.  Parisian  reaction  against  Hebertism  soon  reached 
the  provinces,  where  the  worship  of  reason  was  established.  The 
Convention  issued  a  brief  imputing  Hebertist  orgies  to  the  "  foreign 
faction,"  and  refuting  royal  manifestoes  which  declared  the  French 
people  destitute  of  faith  or  law.  And  upon  Barere's  motion,  which 
was  sustained  by  Cambon,  the  arch-enemy  of  priests,  the  Conven- 
tion forbade  all  violence  against  freedom  of  worship  (December  6, 
16  Frimaire). 

Meantime  the  Jacobin  Club  proceeded  to  the  purification  urged 
by  Robespierre,  the  members  being  discussed  in  turn,  Danton 
coming  up  December  3.  He  had  been  absent  for  a  long  time,  and 
was  received  with  ominous  silence  from  his  fellow-members  and 
murmurs  from  the  audience;  but  his  eloquence  and  ardor  won 
applause  from  the  hostile  hearers,  though  he  would  probably  have 
been  expelled  if  Robespierre  had  not  come  to  his  aid. 

Two  days  after  (December  5,  15  Frimaire)  occurred  an  important 
event  in  the  history  of  the  French  press.  Camille  Desmoulins, 
aided  by  Robespierre  and  Danton,  issued  the  first  number  of  the 
"Old  Cordelier,"  recalling  by  this  title  the  brilliant  days  of  the 
Cordelier  Club,  and  protesting  against  its  decay.  In  the  second 
number,  published  on  the  20th  of  Frimaire,  he  followed  up  Robes- 
pierre's attack  on  those  who  were  ruining  the  Revolution  by  exag- 
gerating it,  ridiculing  Clootz  and  Chaumette,  and  accusing  them  of 
aiding  foreign  designs  by  their  folly,  and  of  impelling  the  progress  of 
counter-revolution  while  they  thought  themselves  advancing  the 
growth  of  reason.  He  thus  served  the  ends  of  Robespierre,  who  had 
attacked  Clootz  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  casting  his  noble  and  foreign 
birth  in  his  teeth,  and  accusing  him  of  treason,  thus  obtaining  his 
dismissal  from  the  presidency  of  the  club.  Camille  was  in  turn 


560  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

attacked  for  saying  on  the  occasion  of  the  Girondists'  death :  "  They 
die  true  republicans ! " 

On  the  25th  Frimaire  the  third  number  of  the  "  Old  Cordelier " 
appeared.  It  was  a  protest  against  the  Reign  of  Terror,  under  pre- 
text of  showing  the  terrorism  of  the  Roman  emperors,  giving  a 
picture  of  the  terrorism  of  the  day,  and  made  an  immense  sensa- 
tion, as  Paris  was  just  then  struck  dumb  by  tidings  of  the  Nantes 
drownings  and  Lyons  mitraillades. 

Robespierre  was  much  embarrassed;  to  enter  on  the  path  to 
which  Camille  and  Danton  urged  him,  would  be  to  break,  not  only 
with  the  Hebertists,  but  with  the  terrorists  of  the  Committee. 
Now  he  had  just  dissuaded  the  Convention  from  changing  the 
Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  and  replacing  Billaud,  Collot,  and 
Barere  by  Danton's  friends.  The  Committee  might  be  changed 
in  theory,  but  never,  in  point  of  fact,  had  it  been  done.  December 
12,  a  movement  to  alter  it  was  led  by  Fabre  d'Eglantine,  who 
feared  and  hated  Robespierre,  and  proposed  to  put  upon  the  new 
Committee,  Cambon,  Dubois-Crance",  and  Merlin  de  Thionville, — 
all  of  whom  were  also  his  foes.  Robespierre  therefore  incited  one 
of  his  party  to  defend  the  unity  of  the  Committee  as  necessary 
to  carry  out  the  great  measures  begun,  and  the  Convention  faltered. 
The  Committee  was  not  changed,  but  went  on,  destroying  all  who 
opposed  it,  until  it  was  divided  and  dissolved  (9th  Thermidor). 

Robespierre  upheld  the  Committee  against  the  Dantonists,  but 
sacrificed  the  Hebertists  to  them ;  Ronsin  and  Vincent,  who  filled 
the  air  with  threats  against  Hebert's  foes,  being  arrested. 

December  20  the  fourth  number  of  the  "Old  Cordelier"  came 
out,  and  was  destined  to  be  forever  celebrated  in  the  revolutionary 
calendar.  Camille  invoked  true  liberty,  and  demanded  that  all 
those  imprisoned  on  suspicion  should  be  set  free,  declaring  that 
a  brief  show  of  mercy  would  put  an  end  to  the  Revolution.  Mean- 
while Robespierre  was  anxious  and  annoyed,  attacked  on  the  one 
hand  by  Philippeaux  in  an  article  on  the  Vendean  war,  and  on 
the  other  by  Collot  d'Herbois,  who  had  returned  from  Lyons  to  aid 
the  Hebertists  and  lead  the  terrorists.  The  Jacobin  Club  received 


1793.]  THE  HEBERTISTS.  561 

» 

the  destroyer  of  Lyons  with  applause,  and  by  his  influence  Hebert- 
ism  regained  its  mastery  of  the  club. 

On  the  5th  Nivose  (November  25)  Eobespierre  presented  a 
report  on  revolutionary  government  to  the  Convention,  in  which 
he  said,  "  The  object  of  a  constitutional  government  is  to  preserve 
the  Eepublic,  that  of  a  revolutionary  government,  to  establish  it. 
Eevolutionary  government  steers  between  two  reefs,  moderation  and 
exaggeration.  Red  caps  are  sometimes  neighbors  to  red  heels."  (The 
nobles  of  the  old  regime,  who  introduced  the  fashion  of  red  heels, 
now  disguised  themselves  as  ultra  Jacobins.)  He  showed  a  foreign 
hand  in  all  the  French  dissensions,  complained  that  the  agents  of 
allied  kings  had  long  been  under  arrest  without  trial,  and  succeeded 
in  passing  an  order  for  a  report  "on  the  means  of  perfecting  the 
revolutionary  tribunal,"  that  is,  the  means  of  more  speedy  con- 
demnation. He  was  fast  becoming  a  terrorist. 

Next  day,  Barere,  in  a  report  charging  Desmoulins  with  favoring 
counter-revolution,  proposed  a  plan  for  the  commission  to  revise 
arrest  on  suspicion,  which  Robespierre  did  not  approve.  Billaud 
profited  by  this  disagreement  to  attack  both,  and  the  Committee 
of  Justice  fell  through.  The  Reign  of  Terror  won  the  day,  there 
was  no  hope  of  mitigating  it ;  but  Camille  did  not  pause ;  in  the 
fifth  number  of  his  journal,  issued  January  5  (16th  Nivose),  he 
replied  to  the  censures  of  the  "  once  moderate  Barere  "  with  witty 
sallies,  to  Hebert's  threats  and  insults  with  thunderbolts  and  death ! 
He  called  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  "  a  committee  of  deliv- 
erance," and  tried  to  conciliate  Robespierre,  but  closed  with  the 
old  maxim :  "  Anarchy,  in  making  all  men  masters,  soon  reduces 
them  to  have  but  one  master,  —  the  only  one  I  fear ! "  He  cour- 
ageously maintained,  at  the  Jacobin  Club  and  to  Hebert's  face,  the 
accusations  with  which  he  had  replied  to  Pere  Duchesne's  threats, 
and  young  Robespierre,  on  his  return  from  Toulon,  loyally  sided 
against  Hebert;  but  his  brother  reproved  him  for  meddling  with 
such  petty  quarrels,  and  pretending  that  the  accusations  were  not 
serious,  forced  the  club  to  pass  on  to  the  business  of  the  day. 
Danton  and  Collot  d'Herbois  helped  him  to  suppress  the  debate, 

36 


562  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

• 

the  latter  shrinking  from  a  break  between  the  great  Mountain 
leaders. 

The  Hebertists  having  accused  Camille,  Philippeaux,  and  D'Eg- 
lantine,  they  were  called  before  the  Club,  January  8 ;  but  Camille 
alone  appeared.  Eobespierre  declared  his  writings  dangerous  and 
reprehensible,  but  said  that  his  person  should  be  distinguished  from 
his  works.  "  Camille  is  a  spoiled  child,  led  astray  by  bad  company. 
Let  us  burn  his  papers,  but  keep  him  in  our  midst." 

"  Burning  is  no  answer ! "  cried  Camille. 

"If  you  were  anybody  else,"  said  Eobespierre,  angrily,  "we 
would  not  show  you  such  favor!  Your  manner  of  justifying 
yourself  proves  your  bad  intentions!" 

Here  Danton  interposed,  begging  Camille  not  to  be  alarmed  by 
the  "  severe  lessons  "  Eobespierre's  friendship  read  him.  "  Citi- 
zens," he  added,  "beware  lest  in  punishing  this  man  you  deal 
liberty  of  the  press  a  fatal  blow ! " 

Eobespierre  tried  to  win  Danton  and  Camille,  while  he  prepared 
to  attack  their  friends,  and  more  particularly  D'Eglantine,  whom  he 
regarded  as  the  inspirer  of  Philippeaux  and  other  enemies  of  the 
Committee,  and  the  prime  leader  of  all  the  opposition  to  his  influ- 
ence in  the  Convention ;  and  although  the  Committee  of  General 
Safety  held  proofs  of  Fabre's  innocence,  he  was  arrested  on  the 
night  of  January  12  as  an  accomplice  of  three  other  deputies  who 
had  been  two  months  in  prison,  —  Chabot,  Bazire,  and  Delaunay, 
who  were  accused  of  taking  bribes  to  forge  an  order  for  the  liquida- 
tion of  the  old  India  Company.  Danton  demanded  that  they 
should  be  summoned  to  defend  themselves  at  the  bar  of  the  Con- 
vention, but  in  vain. 

Eobespierre  was  striking  right  and  left,  he  and  his  friends  think- 
ing it  would  be  well  to  appear  more  revolutionary  than  ever ;  and 
Couthon  induced  the  Convention  to  order  an  annual  festival  on 
the  21st  of  January.  A  sad  feast,  in  memory  of  a  murdered  king  ! 

January  28  Eobespierre  set  Vincent  and  Eonsin  free,  much  stir 
having  been  made  in  the  matter  by  the  Hebertists,  against  whom 
he  could  hardly  act  without  at  the  same  time  attacking  Collot 


1793.]  THE  HEBERTISTS.  563 

D'Herbois.  He  and  the  committees  then  plunged  into  civil  terror- 
ism and  foreign  war ;  Barere,  in  a  brilliant  report  on  the  military 
works  and  vast  armament  of  France,  warning  the  Convention 
against  proposals  for  truce,  which  could  only  come  from  enemies. 
Amid  these  storms  and  presentiments  of  coming  ill,  the  Conven- 
tion did  not  forget  the  future,  but  ordered  elementary  text-books 
to  be  prepared,  teachers  of  the  French  language  to  be  sent  to  every 
commune  where  the  national  tongue  was  not  spoken,  and  a  public 
library  to  be  formed  in  every  district.  On  the  4th  of  February  it 
ordered  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  French  colonies,  thus  executing 
the  ideas  of  Brissot,  whom  they  had  slain.  But  the  order  came 
too  late  to  save  San  Domingo  from  bloody  anarchy. 

February  5,  Robespierre  presented  a  report  on  the  principles 
of  political  morality  which  should  govern  the  internal  administra- 
tion of  the  Republic,  affirming  that  terror  must  be  associated  with 
virtue  while  the  country  is  in  a  state  of  revolution,  adding  that 
a  revolutionary  government  is  the  despotism  of  liberty  against 
tyranny,  and  commenting  thus  on  this  definition :  "  Social  protec- 
tion is  due  only  to  peaceable  citizens ;  the  Republic  has  no  citizens, 
it  has  only  republicans."  We  know  but  too  well  that  he  called 
no  one  a  republican  unless  he  agreed  with  him.  He  complained 
of  the  mildness  with  which  the  Republic  pursued  its  foes,  in- 
dicted both  "  iudulgents  "  and  "  ultras,"  and  made  angry  allusions 
to  Clootz  and  D'Eglantine.  Two  days  later,  at  the  Jacobin  Club, 
he  defended  the  "  Marais "  (centre  of  the  Convention)  against  the 
Hebertists,  which  explains  the  motive  of  more  than  one  central 
vote.  At  the  same  time  he  threatened  the  two  large  groups  of  the 
Mountain,  and  read  a  report  on  Fabre  d'Eglantine  which  so  alarmed 
the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  that  they  delayed  adopting  it; 
he  also  made  most  unjust  statements  concerning  De  Thionville, 
Dubois-Crance,  and  other  representatives,  who  had  served  their 
country  nobly.  The  Hebertists  were  angry,  the  Dantonists  dis- 
turbed, and  Robespierre  himself  felt  the  fear  he  had  inspired. 
Desmoulins  replied  to  this  report  in  Xo.  7  of  the  "  Old  Cordelier," 
which  became  widely  known,  though  it  was  never  published. 


564  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

Fabre's  arrest  broke  the  tie  between  Camille  and  Robespierre, 
and  the  former  was  prepared  for  any  event.  One  morning  a  friend 
went  to  him,  to  beg  him  to  be  careful  and  not  to  ruin  himself.  He 
replied  with  jests,  and  his  young  wife,  the  gay  and  graceful  Lucille, 
so  celebrated  in  memoirs  of  the  day,  threw  her  arms  round  his 
neck,  saying :  "  Let  him  alone !  Let  him  fulfil  his  mission !  He 
will  save  his  country ! "  They  were  at  table  ;  Camille  embraced 
his  child,  and  said  to  his  friend  in  Latin,  that  Lucille  might  not 
understand  :  "  Edamus  et  bibamus,  eras  enim  moriamur  !  "  (Let  us 
eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die !)  And  he  wrote  his  No.  7, 
which  will  remain  one  of  the  monuments  of  French  thought,  and 
which  was  destined  to  be  the  manual  of  republicans.  In  this  he 
plainly  spoke  the  truth  to  all,  both  to  Robespierre  and  the  two  Com- 
mittees, without  injustice  toward  Robespierre  and  the  Committee 
of  Public  Welfare,  but  with  sarcastic  and  indignant  anger  toward 
the  Committee  of  General  Safety.  His  publisher  was  seized  with 
terror,  and  dared  not  publish  the  terrible  number.  This  testament 
of  the  great  journalist  has  happily  been  handed  down  to  posterity. 

Robespierre  was  absent  from  the  Club  and  Convention  for  nearly 
a  month  (February  15  to  March  13),  ill  in  body  and  mind,  and  a 
prey  to  cruel  anguish  while  adopting  measures  which  frightened 
him.  Hebert  finally  ventured  to  attack  him  at  the  Club,  and  he 
called  Saint-Just  to  his  aid ;  the  latter  hastened  from  Alsace  and  read 
a  report,  drawn  up  in  the  names  of  both  committees,  on  "  the  most 
speedy  way  to  recognize  and  release  imprisoned  patriots,  to  punish 
the  guilty,"  referring  to  the  proposed  "  Committee  of  Justice,"  and 
its  motive  was  soon  evident.  He  refuted  Desmoulins  by  opposing 
system  to  system.  Camille  said,  "  Liberty  and  clemency  will  save 
the  Republic."  Saint-Just  replied:  "The  relaxation  of  needful 
severity  causes  public  misfortune.  The  Republic  has  fallen  short 
of  the  rigor  shown  to  Brissot  and  his  accomplices.*'  He  wanted  not 
"  a  reign  of  terror,  passing  like  a  whirlwind,"  but  "  lasting  justice," 
as  he  defined  it,  "perpetual  terror."  "Justice,"  he  said,  "consults 
public,  not  private  interest.  Those  who  carry  a  revolution  but 
half-way  do  but  dig  their  own  graves."  He  then  declared  that 


1793.]  THE  HEBERTISTS.  565 

their  civil  relations  must  be  changed :  "  He  who  has  shown  himself 
his  country's  enemy  should  hold  no  share  in  it ! "  going  on  to  pro- 
pose the  confiscation  of  the  estates  of  all  persons  recognized  as 
enemies  of  the  Republic,  they  to  be  imprisoned  till  time  of  peace. 
Robespierre,  Couthon,  and  Saint-Just  declaring  themselves  ultra- 
revolutionists,  now  outdid  Marat  and  Hebert,  and  obtained  an  order 
for  the  execution  of  this  plan,  and  some  days  later  Saint-Just  se- 
cured an  order  for  a  report  on  the  means  for  "  indemnifying  patriots 
with  the  property  of  the  enemies  of  the  Revolution  "  (13th  Ventose, 
3d  March).  These  measures,  which  recall  the  Roman  civil  wars, 
were  never  executed;  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  who  voted 
for  them,  except  Saint-Just,  really  desired  them. 

The  Hebertists  knew  that  Saint-Just's  ultra-terrorism  was  des- 
tined to  strike  them,  and  on  the  4th  of  March  the  copy  of  the 
"Rights  of  Man"  at  their  headquarters,  the  Cordelier  Club,  was 
veiled  in  crape  and  ordered  to  remain  so  until  the  moderate  faction 
was  crushed.  Carrier,  recently  recalled  from  Nantes,  inveighed 
against  the  moderate  party.  "  The  monsters ! "  he  cried,  "  they 
want  to  break  down  the  scaffolds ! "  And  he  openly  invoked  in- 
surrection, as  did  Hebert.  Vincent  and  Ronsin,  the  active  men  of 
the  party,  pervaded  Paris  with  a  straggling  troop  of  men  from  the 
disbanded  revolutionary  army,  who  were  very  unpopular.  Paris 
had  suffered  so  much  during  the  winter,  that  the  Hebertists  hoped 
to  incite  her  to  rebel,  but  in  vain ;  only  one  section  rose,  that  of  the 
Cordeliers  (Odeon),  who  declared  they  "  would  rebel  until  the  assas- 
sins of  the  people  were  killed."  The  General  Council  of  the  com- 
mune blamed  them  for  veiling  the  "Rights  of  Man,"  as  did  also 
Chaumette ;  and  Collot  d'Herbois,  seeing  that  the  revolt  was  a  fail- 
ure, tried  to  effect  peace  at  the  Jacobin  Club  that  night,  although 
he  would  have  led  a  successful  rebellion.  The  Jacobins,  at  the 
instance  of  Collot  and  Carrier,  sent  a  deputation  to  the  Cordeliers 
for  mutual  explanation,  and  the  veil  was  rent  from  the  "  Rights  of 
Man,"  all  idea  of  revolt  being  thus  renounced ;  and  Hebert  protested 
against  the  report  that  they  wished  to  dissolve  the  Convention. 

But  the  time  had  passed  when  the  fiveche'  committee  could  go 


566  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

scot  free  when  their  plots  failed,  ready  to  begin  again  at  the  next 
best  opportunity.  The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  was  not  the 
Commission  of  Twelve,  and  on  the  13th  of  March  Saint-Just  read 
a  report  on  the  "  vile  conspiracy  of  the  foreign  faction  to  destroy  the 
republican  government  and  starve  out  Paris  by  tampering  with 
supplies."  He  called  those  he  would  ruin  "  the  vicious  party,"  and 
pretended  that  the  "  indulgents  "  who  tried  to  save  criminals  were 
leagued  with  the  foreign  faction  to  commit  atrocities,  merely  to 
charge  them  on  the  people  and  the  Revolution,  and  accusing  the 
English  government  of  trying  to  make  peace  or  abate  the  violence 
of  war,  only  to  corrupt  the  people  and  excite  civil  dissension.  His 
conclusions  were  adopted,  and  an  order  was  issued  punishing  with 
death  all  who  usurped  the  power  of  the  Convention,  attacked  its 
dignity,  or  tampered  with  supplies ;  while  six  commissioners  were 
to  be  chosen  from  the  people  for  the  speedy  trial  of  all  enemies  of 
the  Revolution  detained  in  prison.  Hebert,  Vincent,  and  Ronsin 
were  arrested  that  night,  and  soon  after  several  foreigners  who  had 
long  lived  in  France  and  taken  an  active  part  in  the  Revolution, 
such  as  Anarcharsis  Clootz.  Next  day  Billaud-Varennes,  the  sys- 
tematic terrorist,  advocated  their  immediate  trial,  and  no  one  dared 
defend  Hebert  and  his  friends.  On  the  28th  Ventose  the  Conven- 
tion ordered  the  list  of  Parisian  officials  to  be  thoroughly  purged. 
Chaumette  was  arrested,  although  he  had  not  shared  in  the  Hebertist 
revolt,  and  the  Committee  next  attacked  the  "  indulgents,"  inducing 
the  Convention  to  indict  its  ex-President,  Herault  de  Sechelles,  on 
suspicion  of  belonging  to  a  foreign  faction  and  of  giving  shelter  to 
an  emigrant.  It  also  indicted  the  three  deputies  accused  of  taking 
bribes,  Chabot,  Bazire,  and  Delaunay,  with  their  supposed  accom- 
plice, D'Eglantine.  The  Dantonists  then  demanded  the  arrest  of  a 
man  who,  though  not  an  official,  had  great  secret  power,  and  made 
all  Paris  tremble.  His  name  was  Heron,  and  he  was  the  chief  agent 
of  the  Committee  of  General  Safety  and  a  confidant  of  Robespierre, 
who  defended  him  and  prevented  his  arrest,  for  which  the  Marais 
rewarded  him  by  voting  against  the  independent  Mountaineers  (30th 
Ventose,  20th  March).  It  was  a  decisive  day ;  Danton  was  involved 


1793.]  TRIAL  OF   THE   HEBERTISTS.  567 

in  the  defeat  of  his  friends,  and  while  the  Hebertists  were  attacked, 
his  party  was  doomed  to  die.  The  Hebertists'  trial  began  March 
21  (1st  of  Germinal),  the  indictment  being  true  so  far  as  regarded 
plots  for  rebellion,  invasion,  and  the  "purification  "  of  the  Assembly. 
But  many  of  the  accused  had  no  part  in  these  plans.  It  was  false 
that  they  conspired  with  foreign  powers,  Pere  Duchesne  having 
served  the  kings  only  by  giving  them  excuse  for  representing 
France  to  the  rest  of  Europe  as  a  corrupt  and  bloodthirsty  nation. 
The  conspirators'  plan  was  apparently  to  appoint  a  dictator  called 
"  Grand  Judge,"  which  office  was  to  be  given  to  Pache,  the  mayor 
of  Paris,  a  political  manikin  in  whose  name  Eonsin  would  have 
acted.  The  antecedents  of  Hebert,  Vincent,  and  Eonsin  were  proved 
disgraceful.  Vincent,  the  young  head  secretary  of  the  Minister 
of  War,  was  at  once  a  fanatic  and  an  extortioner,  and  when  Hebert 
dropped  the  mask  of  Pere  Duchesne,  he  stood  revealed,  a  debauchee 
and  a  swindler.  He  was  overwhelmed  with  fear  both  in  prison 
and  at  the  bar,  while  Eonsin  stood  firm  to  the  end,  replying  scorn- 
fully to  Hubert's  lament:  "Liberty  is  dead!"  "You  know  not 
what  you  say :  Liberty  cannot  die  ! "  "  Glorious  age ! "  says  Miche- 
let,  "  when  even  the  vilest  had  faith ! " 

Anarcharsis  Clootz,  who  called  himself  "  the  orator  of  mankind," 
did  not  deserve  his  fate ;  it  was  base  ingratitude  to  repay  his  love 
for  Paris  and  his  devotion  to  France  with  a  scaffold.  This  man  of 
German  race  was  the  first  to  claim  for  France  the  limits  of  Ancient 
Gaul,  the  boundary  of  the  Ehine.  They  were  all  sentenced  and  exe- 
cuted on  the  4th  Germinal  (March  24).  Hebert  was  hooted  at  all 
along  the  fatal  road,  the  rabble  calling  him  a  "  monopolist,"  —  him 
who  had  demanded  the  heads  of  so  many  supposed  monopolists! 
The  mob  turned  against  Pere  Duchesne  his  own  vile  jests  about 
the  "guillotine  spy-glass"  and  the  "national  razor."  "While  his 
seventeen  companions  were  guillotined,  the  crowd  were  mute,  but 
when  his  turn  came,  they  waved  their  hats  and  cried,  "  Long  live 
the  Eepublic ! "  His  blood  polluted  the  scaffold  sanctified  by  that 
of  heroes  of  liberty  Jike  Vergniaud  and  Madame  Eoland.  It  is  the 
Eevolution's  greatest  humiliation  to  be  forced  to  reckon  Hebert 


568  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

among  its  party  leaders.  Never  was  a  royal  favorite  more  base 
than  this  corruptor  of  the  people. 

Carnot,  happening  to  meet  the  sad  cortege,  heard  poor  Clootz  cry 
to  the  people :  "  Don't  confound  me  with  these  rascals ! "  Posterity 
should  treasure  those  words,  mindful  only  of  that  strange  man's 
love  for  France  and  the  Revolution. 

On  the  7th  Ventose  the  revolutionary  army  was  disbanded, 
and  on  the  9th,  Fleuriot-Lescot,  Fouquier-Tinville's  substitute,  suc- 
ceeded Pache  as  mayor  of  Paris,  and  Payan,  a  juror  of  the  revolu- 
tionary tribunal,  took  Chaumette's  place  as  "  National  Agent "  of 
the  commune.  Both  men  were  tools  of  Eobespierre,  who  had  now 
succeeded  in  destroying  Clootz  and  Hebert,  who  had  so  long 
thwarted  and  angered  him ;  but  the  other  half  of  his  task  alarmed 
him.  Mutual  friends  had  tried  to  reconcile  Danton  and  himself, 
and  Danton  asked  nothing  better ;  they  dined  together,  and  Danton 
urged  Robespierre  to  break  with  Saint  Just  and  Billaud-Varennes, 
but  the  latter  held  his  ground.  At  the  first  session  held  by  the 
Committee  of  Public  Welfare  after  that  session  of  the  Convention 
at  which  Robespierre  revoked  the  arrest  of  Heron,  despite  the  Dan- 
onists'  efforts,  Billaud  said  decidedly,  "  Danton  must  die  ! "  Robes- 
pierre sprang  up,  exclaiming,  "  Would  you  kill  our  noblest  pat- 
riots ? "  —  struck  by  a  dread  he  had  not  felt  when  Vergniaud  and 
Brissot  died ;  a  fear  that  all  the  great  leaders  of  the  Revolution  must 
perish  in  turn. 

Two  Dantonists — Tallien,  fresh  from  his  mission  to  Bordeaux,  and 
Legendre — were  now  made,  respectively,  president  of  the  Convention 
and  of  the  Jacobin  Club,  which  redoubled  the  alarm  of  the  terror- 
ists on  the  Committee.  Robespierre  is  wholly  responsible  for  the 
Girondists'  death,  but  Danton  and  Camille  Desmoulins  were  slain  by 
Saint-Just,  without  whose  aid  Robespierre  would  never  have  dared, 
perhaps  never  wished,  to  sign  the  fatal  order.  He  did,  indeed,  try 
to  save  Camille,  calling  him  Danton's  dupe  rather  than  his  accom- 
plice, and  accusing  the  latter  of  trying  to  avoid  a  rupture  with  the 
Girondists,  to  save  Louis  XVI.,  and  to  prevent, the  "  Revolution  of 
the  31st  of  May."  Saint- Just  envenomed  and  inflamed  Robespierre's 


1793.]  TRIAL  OF  THE  DANTONISTS.  569 

words  with  his  own  genius  and  hatred,  and  turned  them  into  that 
report  whose  echo  sounds  through  history  like  a  funeral  knell. 
Eobespierre  at  last  forsook  Camille,  his  too  devoted  friend,  as  he 
had  forsaken  Danton;  the  latter  received  many  warnings,  some 
advising  him  to  resist ;  but  he  hesitated,  knowing  it  would  be  a 
struggle  to  the  death.  Others  begged  him  to  fly ;  but  he  cried, "  Can 
I  carry  my  country  with  me  ? "  He  was  tired  of  life,  worn  out  by 
remorse  for  the  murder  of  the  Girondists. 

On  the  29th  Germinal  (March  30)  Marat's  sister  came  to  Dan- 
ton  at  the  Convention  and  said :  "  They  are  about  to  strike,  —  pre- 
vent them  !  Mount  the  tribune  ;  the  opportunity  is  good ;  Tallien 
presides.  Make  a  bold  attack  ! " 

"  Then  I  must  kill  Billaud  and  Eobespierre  ! "  he  replied. 

"  They  want  your  head  !     Take  theirs ! " 

"  But  if  I  am  arrested,  will  not  the  revolutionary  tribunal  acquit 
me  triumphantly  as  it  did  your  brother  ? " 

"  Do  not  trust  to  that ;  the  tribunal  is  no  longer  a  slave  to  the 
Committees  !  Save  yourself,  your  friends,  and  the  Republic  ! " 

He  promised,  but  returning  to  the  hall  found  Eobespierre  in 
friendly  talk  with  Camille,  who  told  Danton  that  there  was  no 
cause  for  fear,  and  Danton  let  his  last  opportunity  slip. 

Marat's  sister  told  the  story  to  Villiaume,  the  historian. 

A  few  days  before,  General  Westermann,  the  hero  of  August  10 
and  of  La  Vendee,  told  Danton  that  "  they  must  put  an  end  to 
this  ! "  and  offered  to  act  elsewhere  while  Danton  worked  in  the 
Convention  ;  but  the  latter  replied,  "  I  would  rather  be  guillotined 
than  guillotine  others." 

On  the  night  of  the  29th  Germinal,  year  II.  (March  30),  the 
Committees  of  Public  Welfare  and  General  Safety  were  convened, 
the  session  opening  with  a  report  from  Carnot  on  the  organization 
of  the  revolutionary  government,  and  abolishing  the  ministry,  the 
six  ministers  being  replaced  by  twelve  commissions,  Carnot  taking 
charge  of  all  army  movements,  Prieur  of  the  manufacture  of  arms 
and  ammunition,  Lindet  of  the  commissary,  and  Jean  Bon-Saint- 
Andre'  of  the  navy.  This  measure  was  equivalent  to  a  great  victory 


570  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

gained  before  the  campaign  opened.  It  was  late  when  the  report 
was  adopted,  and  Saint-Just,  rising,  read  slowly  and  with  gloomy 
face  a  grand  but  appalling  report,  urging  the  merciless  destruc- 
tion of  all  traitors,  chief  among  whom  he  reckoned  Danton  and  his 
friends,  and  demanding  the  death  of  every  "  indulgent "  and  parti- 
san of  D' Orleans,  be  he  Fayettist,  Girondist,  Dantonist,  or  Hebert- 
ist,  without  which  peace  could  never  be  secured.  He  concluded  by 
accusing  Camille  Desmoulins,  H^rault  de  Sechelles,  Danton,  Philip- 
peaux,  and  Lacroix  of  complicity  with  traitors,  and  of  being  impli- 
cated in  a  conspiracy  to  re-establish  the  monarchy  on  the  ruins  of 
the  Eepublic.  The  audience  were  stupefied,  and  two  councils  were 
held  before  the  meeting  agreed.  Carnot  said,  "  You  have  no  proofs 
against  Danton ;  only  suspicions.  Do  not  sow  dissension  between 
men  who  worked  together  to  found  the  Eepublic.  Send  one  repre- 
sentative of  the  people  to  the  scaffold,  and  we  shall  all  tread  the 
same  road  in  turn."  Still  he  and  Prieur,  obeying  their  promise  to 
preserve  the  unity  of  the  revolutionary  government,  yielded  to  the 
majority  and  signed  the  report.  Lindet  refused,  saying  he  was 
there  "  to  support  citizens,  not  to  slay  patriots ! "  and  the  old  Alsa- 
tian, Riihl,  alone  upheld  him  in  his  refusal.  Lindet  warned  Danton, 
but  he  would  not  make  his  escape,  and  was  arrested  early  the  next 
day  with  Philippeaux,  Camille,  and  Lacroix. 

The  news  of  Danton's  arrest  struck  the  Convention  like  a  thun- 
der-bolt. Legendre  demanded  that  the  deputies  arrested  should  be 
called  before  the  Assembly  for  a  hearing,  saying  that  "  party  passion 
should  not  be  allowed  to  deprive  Liberty  of  the  men  who  had  served 
her  best !  Danton  saved  France  in  1792  ! "  Some  cried  out,  "  They 
are  making  us  kill  each  other ! "  Robespierre  took  up  the  word, 
and  replied,  that  "  the  interest  of  ambitious  hypocrisy  should 
never  prevail  over  the  interests  of  the  people ;  that  idol  worship 
should  be  abolished  ;  Danton  must  submit  to  the  fate  he  deserved." 
Then  he  spoke  of  his  own  courage  in  sacrificing  his  friend  :  "  Some 
try  to  make  me  believe  Danton's  danger  my  danger ;  but  what  is 
danger  to  me  ?  My  life  belongs  to  my  country  ! "  By  this  adroit 
speech  he  openly  sided  with  Billaud  and  Saint-Just.  The  Moun- 


1794.]  TRIAL  OF  THE  DANTONISTS.  571 

tain  shook  before  the  Jacobin  leader,  and  the  dreadful  report  was 
accepted. 

Danton  and  his  friends  were  taken  to  the  Luxembourg,  where 
they  found  Herault  de  Sechelles  and  Fabre  d'Eglantine.  Danton, 
at  first  amazed  by  his  enemies'  daring,  soon  recovered  courage. 
Camille  had  said,  "  I  will  share  Danton's  fate ! "  but  he  was  not 
resigned,  for  he  was  giving  up  a  beloved  wife  and  child  and  a  brill- 
iant career.  He  loved  life  as  much  as  Danton  scorned  it,  and 
wrote  his  wife  letters  more  moving  than  any  romance.  Twice  he 
asks  her  for  a  book  on  "  the  immortality  of  the  soul,"  —  probably 
Plato's  "  Phaedo,"  which  Cato  read  in  his  last  hours,  yet  could  not 
believe  that  Robespierre  had  forsaken  him.  "  If  it  had  been  Pitt  or 
Cobourg  that  treated  me  thus !  But  my  own  colleagues !  Eobes- 
pierre !  The  Republic  !  After  all  I  have  done  for  them ! " 

Meanwhile  the  trial  was  approaching.  Hermann,  the  president 
of  the  tribunal,  and  Fouquier-Tinville,  the  public  prosecutor,  shrank 
from  try-ing  Danton.  The  latter  was  Desmoulins'  cousin,  and  owed 
his  place  to  him,  and  both  expressed  doubts  of  the  probability  of 
condemnation.  The  leaders  of  the  Committees  summoned  them, 
and  threatened  them  with  arrest ;  on  this  they  yielded,  and  Her- 
mann even  went  beyond  their  hopes.  The  jury  was  reduced  to  seven 
men,  on  whom  the  Committee  could  rely ;  one  of  whom  took  notes 
of  the  trial,  from  which  we  can  correct  the  mistakes  and  fill  up  the 
blanks  in  the  "  Bulletin  of  the  Tribunal,"  written  by  two  of  Robes- 
pierre's agents ;  they  having  been  recently  printed  by  M.  Robinet 
in  his  book  on  the  "  Trial  of  the  Dantonists." 

Danton  and  his  friends  were  transferred  to  the  Conciergerie  the 
13th  Germinal  (April  2),  and  as  they  passed  beneath  the  fatal 
arch,  through  which  so  many  illustrious  victims  had  gone,  Camille 
said  to  the  prisoners  who  crowded  round  them,  "  I  go  to  the  scaf- 
fold because  I  pitied  the  unhappy ;  my  only  regret  is  that  I  could 
not  serve  them." 

"  On  this  very  day,"  said  Danton,  "  I  formed  the  revolutionary 
tribunal !  May  God  and  man  forgive  me !  I  did  it,  not  to  scourge 
humanity,  but  to  prevent  another  September  massacre.  Better  be 
a  poor  fisherman  than  a  ruler  of  mankind ! " 


572  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

During  the  day  they  were  brought  to  trial,  and  were,  to  their 
great  indignation,  placed  on  the  same  seats  with  Chabot,  Delaunay, 
and  others  accused  of  bribery,  and  with  a  few  wretched  foreigners, 
brought  to  persuade  the  people  of  their  complicity  with  foreign 
powers. 

Camille,  as  was  his  right,  objected  to  one  of  the  jurors ;  but  in 
vain. 

When  the  president  asked  the  prisoner's  name,  age,  and  home, 
Danton  replied:  "I  am  thirty-four;  my  home  will  soon  be  in 
space;  and  as  to  my  name,  you  will  find  it  in  the  Pantheon  of 
history ! " 

Camille  said :  "  I  am  as  old  as  Jesus  the  republican  at  his  death, 
—  thirty-three." 

Their  trial  was  then  postponed  until  the  next  day,  when  General 
Westermann  joined  their  ranks.  He  was  arrested  lest  he  should 
excite  the  mob  in  Danton's  favor,  and  brought  hastily  to  trial.  The 
indictment  against  Danton  and  his  friends  was  read,  and  proceed- 
ings were  opened  by  Delaunay's  forgery  in  favor  of  the  India 
Company.  Cambon  was  the  first  witness,  and  although  the  case 
had  nothing  to  do  with  Danton,  began  with  a  eulogy  of  the  patriot- 
ism of  Danton  and  Lacroix  on  their  Belgian  mission,  and  in  rela- 
tion to  Dumouriez's  treason,  and  incriminated  Delaunay,  not  D'Eg- 
lantine,  with  the  forgery.  This  witness  did  so  ill,  that  no  others 
were  called,  and  all  proofs  of  D'Eglantine's  innocence  were  with- 
held, upon  which  he  refused  to  defend  himself,  and  was  condemned. 

The  court  then  turned  to  the  great  case  which  it  dreaded  so 
much,  and  with  reason,  for  Danton  changed  places  with  his  accus- 
ers, summoning  them  to  appear  and  sustain  their  charges,  and 
requiring  the  tribunal  to  bring  forward  witnesses  for  the  defence, 
among  whom  were  sixteen  members  of  the  Convention.  Fouquier- 
Tinville  at  first  refused,  as  he  had  been  ordered  to  do,  but  finally 
promised  to  write  for  the  Convention's  decision  in  the  matter. 
Danton,  as  he  said,  "  stooped  to  defend  himself,"  and  rehearsed  his 
political  life,  claiming  the  bloody  responsibility  of  the  10th  of 
August.  He  was  often  interrupted  by  bursts  of  applause,  and  the 


1794.]  THE  TRIAL  OF   THE"  DANTONISTS.  573 

president,  marking  the  general  emotion,  begged  him  to  pause  and 
rest,  soon  after  closing  the  session.  That  evening  Fouquier-Tinville 
told  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  that  it  would  be  illegal  to 
suppress  the  witnesses  called  for  by  the  prisoners,  but  Billaud  and 
Saint-Just  replied  with  new  threats. 

Xext  day  Herault  de  Sechelles  was  tried,  being  accused  of  be- 
traying the  secrets  of  the  Committee  of  General  Safety  to  foreign 
powers,  which  was  proved  by  letters  probably  forged  by  President 
Hermann ;  after  which  Camille's  case  came  up.  He  defended  his 
paper,  and  spoke  of  his  many  services  ever  since  the  day  when 
he  gave  the  signal  for  the  uprising  of  Paris,  which  resulted  in  the 
capture  of  the  Bastile.  "  I  began  the  Revolution,"  said  he,  "  and 
my  death  will  complete  it ! "  When  Philippeaux  was  brought  to 
trial  and  accused  of  conspiracy,  he  stood  firm,  only  saying,  when 
the  president  made  an  offensive  remark,  "You  can  kill  me;  but 
I  forbid  you  to  insult  me  ! "  His  only  crime  was  to  speak  the  truth 
concerning  the  Hebertists,  Eonsin  and  the  minister  of  war,  before 
Eobespierre  was  ready  for  it.  The  stormy  scenes  of  the  day  before 
were  repeated,  and  Fouquier-Tinville  wrote  to  the  Committee  for 
orders  in  regard  to  the  witnesses.  Saint-Just  hastened  to  the  Con- 
vention, where  he  announced  that  the  prisoners  had  rebelled  against 
justice,  and  caused  the  trial  to  be  suspended  by  their  uproar;  tak- 
ing good  care  not  to  tell  the  cause  of  the  uproar,  that  is,  the  refusal 
to  call  witnesses  for  the  defence.  "  At  this  very  moment,"  he  said, 
"  the  prisons  swarm  with  plots,  the  country  is  in  danger !  The 
woman  Desmoulins  is  scattering  money  broadcast  to  excite  the  mob 
to  murder  patriots  and  the  revolutionary  tribunal."  (All  this  was 
a  gross  exaggeration ;  Lucille  Desmoulins  was  in  correspondence 
with  her  husband's  friends,  who  hoped  to  rouse  the  people  in 
his  favor,  but  had  no  thoughts  of  murdering  any  one.)  He  then 
proposed  that  "any  one  accused  of  conspiracy,  who  resisted  or 
insulted  national  justice,  should  be  put  out  of  court."  This  measure 
was  passed,  and  the  news  carried  to  Tinville,  who  read  it  aloud, 
together  with  the  speech  that  provoked  it.  "When  Camille  heard 
his  wife's  name  he  cried,  "  "Wretches !  not  content  with  murdering 


574  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XIX. 

me,  ye  would  also  slay  my  wife  ! "  Danton  stormed  against  the 
treachery  employed  to  poison  the  mind  of  the  Convention,  appeal- 
ing to  judges,  jury,  and  people  to  say  if  the  prisoners  had  inter- 
rupted the  debate.  The  court  dared  not  answer,  and  cries  of  "  Trea- 
son ! "  rose  from  the  crowd.  At  that  moment  he  spied  out  Amar 
and  Voulland  (the  members  of  the  Committee  forming  the  board 
of  instruction  in  this  matter)  behind  Fouquier  and  the  judges,  and 
pointing  to  them,  cried,  "  Behold  the  cowardly  assassins !  They 
pursue  us  to  the  death ! "  The  session  was  closed  amid  a  fright- 
ful tumult.  Vadier,  Voulland,  and  David  spent  the  night  in  per- 
suading the  jury  that  if  they  acquitted  Danton  they  would  condemn 
Eobespierre.  Next  day,  16th  Germinal  (April  5),  the  court  opened 
before  nine  in  the  morning.  The  prisoners  once  more  demanded 
witnesses,  and  the  president  replied,  that  in  accordance  with  the 
decree  permitting  him  to  close  the  trial  after  a  space  of  three  days, 
the  jury  felt  they  had  heard  enough. 

"What!"  cried  Danton,  "the  trial  closed!  It  has  not  been 
opened !  No  proofs  have  been  produced,  no  witnesses  heard ! 
I  knew  our  death  was  fixed !  I  will  not  dispute  my  life  with  the 
vile  wretches  who  would  kill  me !  I  only  wish  it  had  been  more 
useful  to  my  dear  country  !  People,  remember  Danton ! " 

Camille  had  written  out  his  defence,  but  was  forbidden  to  read 
it.  He  rolled  up  the  paper  and  threw  it  at  the  judges'  heads.  It 
was  picked  up,  given  to  his  wife,  and  afterwards  published  in  the 
"  Old  Cordelier."  The  prisoners  were  hustled  out  of  the  crowd,  and 
sentence  was  pronounced  in  their  absence,  contrary  to  law.  The 
whole  fifteen  were  condemned  to  die,  and  were  taken  to  the  Place 
de  la  Eevolution  that  afternoon.  Danton,  Philippeaux,  Wester- 
mann,  and  De  Sechelles  mastered  their  emotion  and  went  to  death 
as  to  a  battle,  but  Camille  could  not  resign  himself  to  his  fate.  He 
at  first  exclaimed  with  anguish,  "  My  wife  !  My  child ! "  Then 
his  grief  turned  to  rage,  and  he  shouted  along  the  way :  "  People, 
they  are  deceiving  you  ;  they  are  slaying  your  friends  ! "  The  crowd 
were  sad  but  silent,  only  the  "  blood-drinkers  "  and  "  furies  of  the 
guillotine,"  who  followed  the  cart  each  day,  uttering  their  wonted 


1793.]  TRIAL  OF  THE  DANTOXISTS.  575 

howls.  Camille  struggled  with  his  fetters  so  violently  as  to  tear 
his  clothes ;  but  Danton  tried  to  calm  him.  As  they  passed  Robes- 
pierre's  house,  in  the  Rue  St.  Honore,  Danton  exclaimed,  "  Robes- 
pierre, you  will  follow  me  yet ! "  When  they  reached  the  scaffold, 
Herault  mounted  first,  and  tried  to  embrace  Danton,  but  was  pre- 
vented by  the  executioner.  "  You  cannot  prevent  our  heads  from 
embracing  in  the  basket ! "  said  Danton.  Camille  followed  Herault, 
clasping  a  lock  of  his  wife's  hair.  "  Behold  the  reward,"  he  cried, 
"of  Liberty's  first  apostle!" 

Danton  melted  at  the  thought  of  his  young  wife,  so  soon  to  be- 
come a  mother,  but  soon  recovered  and  gazed  up  to  heaven  as  if 
to  extort  its  secrets,  then,  turning  to  the  executioner,  said,  "  Show 
my  head  to  the  people ;  it  is  well  worth  your  while ! "  When  that 
great  head  fell,  a  shudder  ran  through  the  crowd,  dying  away  in 
mournful  silence.  It  was  felt  that  the  Revolution  had  received  its 
death-blow. 

But  all  this  noble  blood  did  not  suffice ;  the  "  prison  plot,"  which 
furnished  an  argument  for  Danton's  death,  must  be  followed  up, 
and  a  few  days  later  twenty-five  fresh  prisoners  appeared  before 
the  tribunal,  among  them  Chaumette  and  Gobel,  ex-archbishop  of 
Paris,  who  had  renounced  his  office  at  Clootz's  instance.  The  ter- 
rorists claimed  these  men's  heads,  strangers  to  the  plots  of  Hebert 
and  Ronsin  as  they  were,  and  overlooked  the  monster  Carrier  who 
was  deeply  involved  in  it,  but  was  protected  by  Collot  and  Billaud ! 
The  brave  General  Beysser,  who  defended  Nantes  against  the  Ven- 
deans,  was  one  of  the  luckless  twenty-five,  and  two  women  were 
among  the  number,  Hebert's  widow  and  the  unhappy  Lucille  Des- 
moulins,  whose  mother  wrote  to  Robespierre,  bitterly  reproaching 
him  with  his  conduct  and  imploring  him  to  spare  her  child,  but  in 
vain.  Robespierre  was  dumb,  and  the  sacrifice  was  accomplished. 
He  never  compromised  himself  by  preventing  acts  which  doubtless 
distressed  him,  not  from  fear,  as  was  shown  at  his  death,  but  because 
he  would  not  risk  his  position. 


576  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XX. 


•   CHAPTER   XX. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued).  —  CAMPAIGN  OF  YEAR  II.  —  THE  FOUR- 
TEEN ARMIES.  —  VICTORY  OF  FLEURUS.  —  BELGIUM  RECONQUERED. 
—  A  NAVAL  BATTLE. 

Germinal  —  Thermidor,  Year  II.   April  — July,  1794. 

rriHE  war,  which  Danton  hoped  to  lead  to  honorable  peace,  was 
_1_  resumed  on  a  huge  scale  the  day  after  the  downfall  of  his 
party.  The  great  measures  of  August  23,  1793,  at  first  resulting 
in  victory,  now  bore  their  full  fruit.  France  armed  her  frontiers 
and  was  ready  at  any  moment  to  attack  the  invaders  who  occupied 
the  extreme  points  of  her  territory,  and  foe  fourteen  armies  of  the 
Republic  are  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  men.  Thirteen  of  them  were 
very  powerful,  and  the  fourteenth  consisted  of  a  few  detachments 
occupying  the  Upper  Ehine.  From  the  one  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  men  who  fought  at  Jemmapes,  the  army  had  increased 
to  seven  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  by  the  spring  of  1794.  The 
enemy  saw  with  affright  that  they  were  opposed,  not  by  ari  army, 
but  by  a  whole  "  nation  in  arms."  Thanks  to  Jean  Bon-Saint-An- 
dre*'s  efforts  to  repair  the  Toulon  disaster,  France's  marine  forces 
were  equal  to  her  army.  She  had  twenty-eight  ships  of  the  line 
at  Brest,  ten  at  Toulon,  and  nine  scattered  here  and  there,  —  forty- 
seven  in  alL  England  had  eighty  at  sea  and  could  launch  one 
hundred,  while  her  allies  Spain  and  Holland  had,  the  one  forty, 
and  the  other  twenty.  But  as  they  could  not  concentrate  their 
forces  and  England  had  so  many  more  ports  to  defend  than  France, 
by  renouncing  the  Mediterranean,  the  latter  was  quite  able  to  sustain 
the  struggle. 

Ptobespierre  and  Saint-Just  were  much  mistaken  as  to  the  inten- 


1794.]  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  YEAR  II.  577 

tion  of  the  English  government,  thinking  that  Pitt  wanted  to  abate 
the  war  and  amuse  the  French  by  proposals  of  truce,  that  he  might 
give  them  over  to  civil  discord.  But  he  really  was  entering  with 
greater  violence  than  ever  into  the  war  in  which  he  had  been  so 
reluctant  to  engage.  He  obtained  subsidies  from  Parliament  to 
maintain  eighty  thousand  sailors,  sixty  thousand  soldiers,  and  forty 
thousand  French  emigrants  and  German  soldiers  in  the  English 
service.  He  intrigued  and  lavished  money  to  prevent  the  disso- 
lution of  the  coalition,  scattered  false  assignats  by  millions  through 
France,  to  hasten  the  discredit  of  the  genuine  ones,  attacked  French 
ships  in  neutral  ports,  and  impressed  American  sailors  to  serve  on 
English  ships,  so  enraging  the  neutral  states  by  his  conduct  that 
Sweden  secretly  signed  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  the  French  Be- 
public,  but  did  not  carry  it  out.  Pitt  ruled  the  Stadtholder  of  Hol- 
land, directed  the  policy  of  Spain,  bought  the  alliance  of  Piedmont, 
held  Naples  in  hand  through  Acton,  Queen  Caroline's  English 
favorite  and  the  weak  King  Ferdinand's  minister,  and  frightened 
Naples  into  coalition.  Genoa  was  the  only  Mediterranean  seaport 
to  resist  him.  Fox,  Sheridan,  Lord  Lansdowne,  Lord  Stanhope,  and 
a  few  other  Englishmen,  whose  names  should  always  be  cherished  by 
France,  struggled  against  war,  and  tried  to  show  that  under  pretext 
of  protecting  religion,  society,  and  the  Constitution,  Pitt's  only  aim 
was  to  conquer  the  remnant  of  the  French  colonies,  as  he  could  not 
capture  Dunkirk  or  Toulon,  and  that  this  would  lead  to  prolonged 
war,  which  might  destroy  English  liberty. 

His  real  hope  was  not  only  to  conquer  the  colonies  but  to  revenge 
himself  on  the  French  for  the  part  they  played  in  the  American 
war ;  but  he  also  felt,  and  many  Englishmen  with  him,  that  their 
system  of  privileged  liberties  and  social  hierarchies  would  fall  if 
French  democracy  were  established.  This  explains  the  vast  ma- 
jority which  upheld  him  in  the  great  debate  of  January,  1794,  and 
seemingly  justified  the  prophecies  of  the  opposition  by  granting  him 
the  suspension  of  habeas  corpus,  which  he  used  against  English  and 
Irish  democrats  and  neutral  states  abroad.  Peace  or  truce  were 
far  from  the  mind  of  the  English  government,  and  even  farther 

37 


578  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XX. 

from  the  courts  of  Prussia  and  Austria,  which  were  on  ill  terras  and 
reproached  each  other  for  their  common  reverses  in  Alsace.  They 
were  equally  involved  in  the  affairs  of  Poland,  whose  people  were 
on  the  point  of  rebellion. 

The  Austrian  minister,  Thugut,  made  indirect  overtures  to  France, 
but  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  deeming  them  insincere, 
refused  to  receive  them,  and  tried  to  negotiate  with  Prussia,  the 
Prussian  king,  on  the  refusal  of  Austria  and  the  Imperial  Assem- 
blies to  support  his  troops,  declaring  that  henceforth  he  would 
furnish  the  coalition  only  his  contingent  as  a  member  of  the  em- 
pire, that  is,  twenty  thousand  men.  When  Pitt  heard  of  this  threat- 
ened defection,  he  offered  the  king  of  Prussia,  in  the  name  of 
England  and  Holland,  the  money  which  Austria  had  refused.  Fred- 
erick William  yielded,  and  promised  sixty-two  thousand  men. 

At  the  opening  of  the  campaign  in  April,  France  had  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-four  thousand  men  arrayed  against  three  hundred 
and  fifteen  thousand  between  the  Ehine  and  the  sea.  The  Germans 
had  quintupled  the  empire's  contingents,  which  explains  the  ene- 
my's superiority  of  numbers.  The  French  forces  in  that  region  were 
divided  into  four  armies  and  those  of  the  enemy  into  five. 

After  much  thought,  Carnot  had  prepared  a  plan  for  the  cam- 
paign combining  the  movements  of  the  fourteen  armies  on  the  fron- 
tiers as  a  general  combines  the  movements  of  his  regiment  on  a 
battle-field.  His  idea  was  to  begin  every  attack  with  the  bayonet, 
to  act  in  masses,  attack  all  sides  at  once,  but  concentrate  decisive 
action  on  a  few  points;  to  drive  the  Spanish  from  the  Eastern 
Pyrenees,  invaded  by  them,  and  seize  the  positions  commanding  the 
entrance  to  Spanish  territory  in  the  Western  Pyrenees ;  to  take 
possession  of  Little  St.  Bernard  and  both  the  Cenis  Mountains,  thus 
closing  French  territory  to  the  enemy  in  the  Great  Alps ;  to  cross 
the  natural  frontier  in  the  Maritime  Alps  and  seize  the  seaport  of 
Oneglia,  so  as  to  turn  Piedmont,  draw  Genoa  into  the  French  alli- 
ance, and  thus  expel  the  English  from  Corsica ;  to  destroy  La  Ven- 
dee in  the  West  and  prepare  for  a  descent  on  England;  to  hold 
the  enemy  in  check  in  the  East,  with  the  armies  of  the  Ehine  and 


1794.]  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  YEAR  II.  579 

Moselle ;  to  make  a  grand  coup  in  the  North  by  combining  the 
large  army  of  the  North  and  small  army  of  Ardennes,  to  be  rein- 
forced if  need  be  by  the  army  of  the  Moselle. 

Jourdan  no  longer  commanded  the  army  of  the  North,  for  the 
Committee  of  Public  "Welfare,  although  they  esteemed  him,  could 
not  forgive  his  lack  of  decision  and  promptness  to  profit  by  the  vic- 
tory of  Wattignies.  They  might  have  given  the  command  to  the 
brave  Hoche,  the  deliverer  of  Alsace,  but  passed  him  over,  because  he 
had  refused  to  confide  in  Saint-Just  and  quarrelled  with  Pichegru, 
who  was  always  trying  to  steal  the  glory  due  to  his  young  rival. 
Saint- Just  accordingly  prejudiced  the  Committee,  who  began  to  con- 
sider Hoche  a  dangerous  man  and  to  take  precautions  against  him, 
beginning  by  taking  him  from  the  Moselle  army,  who  adored  him, 
and  sending  him  to  the  Italian  army  at  Nice,  which  he  had  scarcely 
reached,  when  he  was  arrested  by  their  order  and  taken  to  Paris 
(end  of  March),  where  he  was  imprisoned,  first  at  the  Carmelites' 
and  then  at  the  Conciergerie.  In  vain  he  demanded  trial,  cursing 
Carnot,  who  left  him  to  rot  in  prison  for  months,  preventing  his 
case  from  coming  before  the  Committee  or  revolutionary  tribunal, 
thus  preserving  him  to  rejoin  Custine  and  Houchard.  Saint-Just 
was  luckily  absent,  and  Robespierre,  who  did  not  sign  the  order  for 
his  arrest,  did  not  seem  to  be  associated  with  his  cruel  friend  in  this 
case.  We  will  now  leave  this  illustrious  prisoner,  and  return  to 
him  anon. 

The  great  operations  for  which  his  victories  paved  the  way  were 
now  carried  on  by  another,  Saint-Just  having  given  the  command 
of  the  main  army  to  his  rival  Pichegru,  to  whom  Carnot  sent  an 
order  (March  10)  to  fight  at  once  between  the  Scheldt  and  the  Lys, 
capture  Ypres,  so  as  to  secure  the  French  frontier  in  maritime  Flan- 
ders, and  take  possession  of  Brabant  or  Belgian  Flanders.  Mean- 
while the  army  of  Ardennes  was  to  enter  Belgium  at  Charleroi, 
and  one  column  of  the  army  of  the  Moselle  to  march  on  Liege. 

"  It  is  dishonor  and  death  for  us  to  act  on  the  defensive,"  wrote 
Carnot;  "if  the  enemy  is  not  crushed  within  three  months,  we 
are  lost." 


580  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XX. 

But  Pichegru  was  no  Hoche  ;  he  delayed  action  until  the  enemy 
had  assumed  the  offensive.  They  proposed  to  take  Landrecies  on 
the  Sambre  beyond  Maubeuge,  where  they  failed  the  autumn  before, 
to  march  thence  to  the  Oise  and  thence  to  Paris,  by  way  of  Guise 
and  Saon,  being  protected  by  opening  the  sluices  and  flooding  Flan- 
ders on  the  right  wing,  and  by  the  Prussian  army  on  the  left,  at 
the  Meuse  and  Sambre  rivers.  An  English  and  Austrian  corps 
were  to  enter  La  Vendee  and  march  on  Paris  with  such  Vendean 
insurgents  as  they  could  collect.  This  would  have  been  very  well 
a  year  sooner,  but  they  were  too  late  with  their  plan. 

The  Prussian  general,  commanding  upwards  of  sixty  thousand  men 
near  Mayence,  refused  to  leave  the  Ehine  for  the  Meuse,  and  the 
English,  Austrian,  and  Dutch  army  tried  to  act  without  him,  having 
one  hundred  and  ninety-five  thousand  men  to  oppose  to  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  thousand  French  under  Pichegru.  The  Emperor 
Francis  II.  took  the  lead  of  the  allied  army.  He,  like  Pitt,  opposed 
terror  to  terror,  ordering,  on  his  arrival  in  Belgium,  that  "  any  one 
convicted  of  conspiracy  to  help  France  should  be  put  to  death." 

The  28th  Germinal  (April  17)  the  enemy  repulsed  the  French 
army  and  invested  Landrecies,  and  a  French  corps  sent  by  Pichegru 
to  help  the  town  were  beaten  by  superior  numbers  led  by  the  Duke 
of  York,  the  conqueror  of  Hondschoote,  and  the  town  surrendered 
(Floreal  11,  April  30),  much  against  the  inhabitants'  will,  but  the 
Prince  of  Cobourg,  who  commanded  in  the  emperor's  name,  gained 
nothing  by  his  victory,  the  Flemish  refusing  to  allow  their  country  to 
be  flooded  as  an  obstacle  to  the  French.  Pichegru  began  his  attack 
before  Lille,  between  the  Lys  and  the  Scheldt,  defeating  the  Aus- 
trian General  Clairfayt,  and  taking  Menin  on  the  Lys.  Cobourg, 
thus  outflanked  on  the  right,  tried  to  stop  the  French  movement  for 
the  offensive  on  the  Lys,  and  numerous  skirmishes  occurred  during 
May.  Clairfayt  was  again  beaten  in  trying  to  repulse  the  French 
near  Courtray  (May  11),  and  the  enemy  united  its  main  forces  in 
an  effort  to  break  the  French  line  and  drive  them  back  to  the  sea, 
but  failed  completely.  Pichegru  did  not  pursue  his  advantage, 
allowing  the  enemy  to  re-form  near  Tournay,  and  not  attacking  them 


1794.]  THE  CAMPAIGN   OF  YEAR  II.  581 

till  four  days  later,  when  he  was  repulsed.  He  did  not  renew  his 
attempts  in  that  direction,  but  prepared  to  besiege  Ypres  as  Carnot 
had  ordered,  which  would  have  been  a  very  risky  thing  had  Cobourg 
been  a  man  of  greater  decision  and  daring.  Meanwhile  other  bat- 
tles were  being  fought  on  the  Sambre  by  the  army  of  Ardennes, 
who  were  trying  to  cross  that  river,  to  take  Charleroi,  and  reach  the 
interior  of  Belgium.  They  four  times  forced  a  passage,  and  were  as 
many  times  driven  back  from  the  other  shore  by  the  right  wing  of 
the  allied  army  under  the  Stadtholder  of  Holland. 

At  the  beginning  of  June  the  issue  of  the  campaign  seemed  du- 
bious ;  the  allies  had  a  brief  hope  of  important  success  through 
treachery,  having  intelligence  with  counter-revolutionists  in  Cam- 
bray.  If  they  took  the  town,  Pichegm  would  be  forced  to  leave 
Flanders  and  fall  back  ;  but  Joseph  Lebon,  a  representative  sent  to 
the  Straits  of  Dover  and  the  North,  thwarted  them  and  punished 
the  royalists  severely.  His  weak  brain  led  him  to  see  traitors  every- 
where, and  he  struck  right  and  left,  committing  disgraceful  outrages 
in  Cambray  and  Arras. 

The  situation  was  soon  changed  by  the  development  of  Carnot's 
plan ;  he  renewed  the  bold  operation  by  which  he  had  before 
emptied  the  East  to  reinforce  the  armies  in  the  North,  at  Hond- 
schoote  and  Wattignies, —  sending  the  army  of  the  Moselle  and  part 
of  the  army  of  the  Ehine  to  the  Sambre  and  Meuse  (11  Floreal, 
April  30),  and  restoring  his  comrade  at  Wattignies,  General  Jourdan, 
to  favor  with  the  Committee,  who  gave  him  command  of  this  army. 
Jourdan  crossed  the  Luxembourg,  defeated  an  Austrian  corps  at 
Arlon,  and  joined  the  army  of  Ardennes  near  Charleroi,  June  4, 
when  Saint-Just  and  Lebas  made  him  commander-in-chief  on  the 
Sambre,  at  the  head  of  eighty  thousand  men,  and  with  him  were 
the  heroes  of  Mayence  and  La  Vendee,  Kleber  and  Marceau.  The 
French  now  had  thirty  thousand  more  men  than  the  enemy  be- 
tween the  Meuse  and  the  sea,  although  they  had  been  reinforced 
by  ten  thousand  English  and  emigrants.  The  majority  would  have 
been  theirs  if  the  Prussians  had  joined  them ;  but  though  Prussia 
took  subsidies  from  England  and  Holland,  she  chose  to  make  war 


582  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XX. 

at  her  own  convenience,  not  theirs,  and  King  Frederick  William  was 
just  then  very  uneasy  about  Poland,  where  a  struggle  for  independ- 
ence was  going  on,  led  by  the  patriot  and  soldier,  Kosciusko,  who 
had  conquered  the  Eussians  and  delivered  Warsaw.  Prussia  feared 
that  if  she  took  an  active  part  against  France,  France  would  protect 
Poland  as  Polish  patriots  had  urged  her  doing,  in  which  case  Turkey 
and  Sweden  might  also  declare  in  their  favor.  Nor  was  Austria 
less  discouraged ;  Belgium  was  again  escaping  from  her  grasp,  her 
rule  had  been  re-established  there  after  Dumouriez's  defeat,  with  the 
consent  of  the  people,  while  the  bishop-prince  was  forced  to  resort 
to  the  scaffold  to  reinstate  himself  at  Liege.  But  Belgian  friend- 
ship was  fleeting,  and  the  Austrian  government  had  a  swarm  of 
hornets  about  its  ears  in  the  old  "Josephist"  party,  that  is,  the 
kity  and  centralizers,  who  were  discontented  with  the  clergy's 
concessions ;  the  clerical  party,  angry  at  not  having  absolute 
power;  and  the  French  revolutionary  party,  who  were  rapidly  regain- 
ing ground  now  that  the  French  had  gone  and  the  Austrians 
returned.  The  Austrians  demanded  men  and  money  to  prevent  the 
return  of  the  French ;  but  the  provincial  States  and  Belgian  towns 
refused,  and  as  the  French  troops  advanced,  they  were  joined  by 
many  formerly  hostile. 

When  Francis  II,  recalled  to  Vienna  by  events  in  Poland,  left 
his  army  in  Cobourg's  hands,  he  decided  to  evacuate  Holland  and 
limit  his  ambition,  like  the  King  of  Prussia,  to  less  distant  and  less 
troublesome  possessions  ;  Russia  promising  him  Polish  provinces 
for  his  aid  in  putting  down  the  rebellion.  Francis  and  Frederick 
William  would  gladly  have  resigned  themselves  to  treat  with 
Robespierre,  if  he  had  become  Dictator,  while  Robespierre  and 
Carnot  had  strong  hopes  of  gaining  Prussia,  and  the  latter  was  well 
aware  that  England  was  the  worst  enemy  of  France,  and  was  more 
concerned  about  the  Netherlands  than  the  Rhine.  He  felt  that 
Belgium  was  the  price  of  victory,  and  prepared  to  attack  Zealand. 
The  invasion  of  Flanders  was  still  progressing ;  Pichegru  took  Ypres 
June  17,  Bruges  June  29,  and  Ostend  two  days  after,  with  large 
supplies  of  military  and  naval  stores.  The  fickle  Flemish  people 


1794.]  A  NAVAL  BATTLE.  583 

received  his  troops  with  open  arms.  Jourdan,  too,  was  at  work,  but 
his  fifth  attempt  to  cross  the  Sambre  was  as  unsuccessful  as  the 
first ;  he  immediately  sent  to  Maubeuge  for  artillery,  crossed  the 
river  anew,  invested  and  bombarded  CharleroL  Cobourg  lost  several 
days  in  doubting  whether  to  help  Charleroi  or  the  Flemish  towns, 
while  the  French  lost  not  an  hour,  and  on  the  25th  of  June  the  bat- 
teries of  the  place  were  silenced  and  a  breach  made.  The  Austrians 
asked  for  parley,  but  Saint-Just  insisted  upon  immediate  surrender. 
That  very  night,  Cobourg  came  up  with  eighty  thousand  men  and 
tried  to  regain  the  town.  The  armies  were  almost  equal  in  strength, 
but  Cobourg  was  forced  to  retreat.  Such  was  the  battle  of  Fleurus, 
so  called  from  a  village  near  by  which  had  already  given  its  name 
to  a  French  victory  under  Louis  XIV.  Had  Hoche  been  with  the 
army,  the  results  of  this  battle  would  have  been  even  more  marked 
than  they  were ;  but  as  it  was,  it  decided  the  issue  of  the  campaign. 
After  a  series  of  skirmishes,  in  which  the  French  were  always  vic- 
torious, Pichegru  joined  Jourdan  at  Brussels,  July  10,  and  before 
the  month  was  out  Belgium  and  Liege  were  rid  of  the  enemy :  the 
French  having  divided  the  Austrian  army  from  the  English  and 
Dutch,  they  retired  to  the  right  bank  of  the  Meuse,  and  the  English 
and  Dutch  fell  back  upon  Brabant  to  cover  Holland.  Part  of  the 
French  army  then  made  a  descent  on  the  four  posts  still  occupied 
by  the  foe,  in  French  territory,  —  Landrecies,  Le  Quesnoy,  Valen- 
ciennes, and  Conde,  where  they  had  prepared  to  withstand  a  siege. 
In  order  to  alarm  these  hostile  garrisons,  the  Convention  issued  an 
order,  on  the  4th  of  July,  that  "  all  troops  belonging  to  the  allied  ty- 
rants and  holding  French  towns  on  the  Northern  frontier,  who  did  not 
surrender  within  twenty-four  hours  after  being  called  upon  so  to  do, 
should  be  put  to  the  sword."  This  threat  had  its  effect,  for  Landrecies, 
the  first  point  attacked,  yielded  at  once  (July  15);  the  French  troops 
passed  on  to  the  other  cities,  while  Jourdan  opposed  the  Austrians 
on  the  Meuse,  and  Pichegru  began  the  invasion  of  Holland,  which 
the  Committee  felt  to  be  an  attack  on  the  outposts  of  England. 

A  great  naval  battle  next  took  place ;  French  privateers  had  done 
much  damage  to  English   commerce,  and  Pitt  hoped  to  retaliate. 


584  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XX. 

Seizing  the  moment  when  the  French  were  anxiously  awaiting  sup- 
plies from  America,  he  sent  thirty  ships  of  the  line  under  Admiral 
Howe  to  intercept  the  convoy,  which  the  Committee  of  Public  Wel- 
fare ordered  Villaret  Joyeuse,  commander  of  the  French  fleet  at  Brest, 
to  save  at  any  price.  Villaret  accordingly  set  sail  with  twenty-four 
ships ;  very  few  of  his  officers  had  any  experience,  but  Jean  Bon- 
Saint-Andre,  who  accompanied  the  admiral,  inspired  the  men  with 
such  ardor  that  they  greeted  the  English  fleet  with  loud  cries  for 
battle,  and  met  the  enemy  without  loss.  After  this  first  encounter, 
Villaret  and  Bon-Saint-Andre  did  their  best  to  lure  the  enemy 
off  the  track  of  the  American  convoy  by  sailing  away ;  Howe  fol- 
lowed them,  and  the  fight  was  renewed  (June  1) ;  both  sides  had 
received  recruits,  which  more  than  replaced  any  losses  they  had 
sustained,  —  the  French  fleet  now  reckoning  twenty-six  vessels,  and 
the  English  thirty-four.  Howe  succeeded  in  breaking  the  French 
line,  and  investing  the  admiral's  ship,  "Montagne,"  a*  superb  vessel 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  cannon,  which  escaped  after  a  heroic 
struggle.  Most  of  the  ships  on  both  sides  were  soon  dismasted 
or  disabled,  and  Villaret  saved  four  of  his  fleet  by  having  them 
towed  off;  six  others  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands;  and  a  seventh, 
the  "  Avenger,"  sprang  a  leak  and  sank,  her  crew  nailing  the  tri- 
color to  the  mast  and  shouting  with  their  last  breath,  "  Long  live 
the  Republic!" 

The  English  fleet  had  suffered  too  much  to  renew  the  fight,  for 
this  was  the  greatest  naval  battle  fought  since  the  battle  of  the 
Hague,  under  Louis  XIV.  During  the  conflict  the  convoy  passed, 
and  entered  a  seaport  in  Brittany,  and  a  few  days  later  the  much- 
mutilated  French  fleet  revived  sufficiently  to  give  chase  to  an  Eng- 
lish squadron  of  nine  vessels,  which  was  threatening  that  region. 

Meantime  English  aggressions  in  Guadeloupe  and  Martinique 
were  renewed  with  success;  aided  by  the  Spanish,  they  invaded 
the  French  part  of  San  Domingo  and  enticed  away  the  people. 
But  the  blacks,  led  by  Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  a  most  remarkable 
man,  turned  upon  them  and  helped  the  handful  of  French  troops 
stationed  there  to  drive  the  enemy  to  the  western  coast 


1794.]  A  NAVAL  BATTLE.  585 

The  English  had  no  hand  in  the  renewed  rebellion  of  La  Ven- 
dee ;  in  fact,  they  could  not  send  troops,  as  the  insurgents  were 
remote  from  any  seaport  We  will  return  to  this  war  of  the  Ven- 
deans  and  Chouans  later.  England  had  more  luck  in  Corsica, 
where  her  fleet,  which  had  escaped  from  Toulon,  was  aiding  the 
insurgent  people.  Paoli,  seeing  that  he  could  not  maintain  the 
independence  of  the  island,  recognized  the  supremacy  of  King 
George ;  but  the  French  were  winning  new  laurels  in  Italy,  where 
they  took  Little  St.  Bernard  and  Mont  Cenis,  the  keys  to  Pied- 
mont, Oneglia,  Saorgio,  and  the  Col  di  Tenda  (April,  1794).  In  the 
Eastern  Pyrenees  they  were  even  more  successful  The  brave 
Dugommier  had  been  sent  to  Perpignan  after  the  recapture  of  Tou- 
lon, where  he  reorganized  the  army,  assumed  the  offensive,  and 
forced  the  Spanish  from  their  camp  at  Boulou,  taking  forty  cannon 
and  all  their  baggage,  and  driving  them  beyond  the  mountains 
(May  1).  The  posts  occupied  by  the  Spanish  in  Roussillon  were 
taken,  and  the  Spanish  frontier  won  by  the  occupation  of  Cerdagne ; 
and  in  Thermidor,  that  is,  before  the  end  of  July,  matters  stood 
thus :  the  reverses  of  the  beginning  of  1793  were  repaired  in  the 
North ;  Belgium  was  again  under  French  control ;  the  boundary 
line  of  the  Pyrenees  was  freed  from  Spanish  invasion ;  Holland 
and  Italy  were  open  to  France. 

Carnot's  plan  for  the  campaign  had  been  faithfully  executed. 


586  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXL 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued).  —  FESTIVAL  OF  THE  SUPREME  BEING.  — 
LAW  OF  PRAIRIAL  22.  —  THERMIDOR  9.  —  FALL  AND  DEATH  OF 
ROBESPIERRE  AND  SAINT-JUST. 

Germinal  17—  Thermidor  10,  Tear  II.  April  6— July  98,  1794. 

AFTEE  Danton's  death,  Kobespierre  was  at  the  height  of 
his  power ;  standing,  as  we  might  say,  on  a  mountain  of 
corpses,  —  the  Constituents  below,  next  the  Girondists,  and  then 
the  Dantonists.  He  shared  his  power  with  Saint-Just  and  Cou- 
thon,  who  were  opposed  by  Billaud,  Collot,  and  the  ultra-terrorists, 
who  would  not  hear  of  religion,  and  Carnot  and  the  directors  of 
great  public  services,  who  were  inclined  to  believe  in  Danton's  and 
Desmoulins'  theory  of  the  Revolution  rather  than  in  the  Utopia 
of  a  tyrannical  and  Spartan  republic.  The  only  authority  outside 
the  Committee,  Cambon,  minister  of  finance,  inspired  the  "  tri- 
umvirs "  with  hatred  and  distrust,  and  they  ascribed  the  public  dis- 
tress to  him,  as  if,  when  he  could  not  borrow  nor  increase  the  taxes, 
he  were  not  forced  to  multiply  the  issue  of  assignats,  thus  reducing 
their  value.  Fresh  civil  crises  were  inevitable,  but  all  were  alarmed, 
and  tried  to  ward  them  off.  Carnot  had  vainly  tried  to  persuade 
the  committee,  on  the  eve  of  Danton's  death,  that  representatives 
could  not  be  accused,  but  it  was  too  late  to  pause  in  the  fatal 
descent ! 

The  Committee  of  Public  "Welfare,  having  destroyed  so  many 
revolutionists,  thought  fit  to  take  strong  measures  against  the  "  aris- 
tocrats," Saint-Just  proposing  to  condemn  the  whole  body  of  nobles 
to  hard  labor  on  public  works  and  highways ;  but  the  Committee 
protested,  and  even  Robespierre  shrank  from  such  a  measure.  On 


1794.]  THE  CONVENTION.  587 

the  16th  of  April  Saint- Just  read  a  report  advising  that  all  con- 
spirators should  be  brought  to  trial  at  the  revolutionary  tribunal 
in  Paris ;  all  tribunals  and  revolutionary  commissions  in  the  depart- 
ments should  be  suppressed,  thus  preventing  the  return  of  whole- 
sale slaughter;  all  nobles  or  natives  of  hostile  countries  should 
be  exiled  from  Paris,  French  strongholds,  or  seaports,  under  pain 
of  outlawry.  He  also  included  priests,  but  Eobespierre  and  the  rest 
struck  them  out.  The  Committee  was  empowered  to  except  nobles 
and  foreigners  whom  it  thought  able  and  willing  to  serve  the  Ee- 
public.  The  Convention  was  urged  to  form  two  commissions, — 
one  to  form  a  succinct  and  complete  code  of  the  laws  hitherto  issued, 
and  the  other  to  draw  up  a  manual  of  civil  instruction  suited  to 
preserve  the  morals  and  spirit  of  liberty;  and  the  Committee  of 
Public  Welfare  was  advised  to  encourage  manufactures  and  protect 
the  circulation  of  currency.  This  latter  phrase  was  not  Saint- Just's, 
for  he  wanted  none  but  army  laborers. 

The  order  referring  all  trials  for  conspiracy  to  the  tribunal  at 
Paris  was  calculated  to  diminish  the  Terror  by  concentrating  it ; 
but  it  was  no  sooner  made  than  broken.  Eepresentative  Maignet 
wrote  to  Couthon  from  Vaucluse  and  Bouches-du-Ehone  that  it 
was  impossible  to  carry  it  out  in  those  parts,  where  they  were  con- 
stantly harassed  by  anti-revolutionists  ;  twelve  or  fifteen  thousand 
having  been  arrested  on  suspicion  (there  were  really  eight  thou- 
sand), it  wrould  require  an  army  to  take  them  to  Paris.  He  asked 
leave  to  form  a  revolutionary  tribunal,  and  the  Committee  estab- 
lished a  special  commission  of  five  judges,  to  try  without  jury  at 
Orange  (May  10),  and  Eobespierre  drew  up  a  most  arbitrary  code 
of  instruction  for  them,  saying  that  they  were  appointed  to  try  the 
enemies  of  the  Eevolution ;  that  all  were  enemies  who  in  any  way 
sought  to  oppose  its  progress,  and  that  the  penalty  of  such  crime 
was  death ;  that  the  judge's  conscience,  enlightened  by  the  love 
of  justice  and  his  country,  must  determine  his  sentence !  A  piece 
of  foolish  bravado  on  the  part  of  the  aristocrats  led  to  a  fearful 
reprisal ;  the  liberty-tree  was  cut  down,  and  the  placards  of  the  Con- 
vention trampled  under  foot,  one  night,  at  Bedoin,  in  the  outskirts 


588  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXI. 

of  Vaucluse,  and  a  focus  of  counter-revolutionary  agitation.  The 
inhabitants  were  ordered  to  denounce  the  culprits  and  refused. 
Suchet,  commander  of  some  troops  stationed  near  by,  and  after- 
wards a  marshal  of  France,  wrote  to  Maignet  that  an  example 
must  be  made  by  destroying  the  town,  and  accordingly  Maignet 
ordered  Bedoin  to  be  evacuated  and  burned,  and  in  the  space  of 
a  few  weeks,  the  commission  at  Orange  sentenced  nearly  four  hun- 
dred persons  to  death.  Similar  exceptions  to  the  decree  were  made 
at  the  other  end  of  France,  and  Arras  and  Cambray  were  the  scene 
of  frightful  bloodshed.  Executions  also  increased  in  Paris,  twenty- 
one  ex-members  of  the  parliaments  of  Paris  and  Toulouse  being 
killed  on  account  of  the  discovery  of  protests  they  had  signed  against 
the  decree  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  to  abolish  the  magistrative 
corps.  The  3d  Floreal  a  group  of  eminent  persons  of  very  various 
origins  and  opinions  —  men  and  women  of  the  nobility,  three  mem- 
bers of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  D'Epremesnil,  Thouret,  and 
Le  Chapellier,  ex-minister  Malesherbes  and  his  family  —  appeared 
before  the  revolutionary  tribunal,  and  were  condemned  as  "  authors 
or  accomplices  of  a  conspiracy,  existing  since  1789,  against  the 
liberty,  safety,  and  sovereignty  of  the  people."  D'Epremesnil,  after 
making  a  spirited  opposition  to  royalty,  had  turned  against  the 
Eevolution,  but  Thouret  and  Le  Chapellier  had  always  served  it  zeal- 
ously. Robespierre  is  accused  of  contributing  to  the  fall  of  these 
two  men,  and  assuredly  he  made  no  effort  to  save  them.  As  for 
Malesherbes,  the  defender  of  justice  and  liberty  against  the  im- 
moral despotism  of  Louis  XV.,  the  friend  and  protector  of  Rous- 
seau and  Diderot,  the  Revolution  committed  parricide  when  it  sent 
him  to  the  scaffold  at  the  age  of  seventy-two;  it  was  like  im- 
molating the  eighteenth  century  itself. 

A  fortnight  later  a  still  more  illustrious  man  was  called  before 
the  tribunal ;  twenty-eight  ex-farmers-general  were  accused  of  mis- 
managing the  taxes  before  the  Revolution,  and  among  them  was 
Lavoisier,  the  creator  of  chemistry,  that  most  profound  and  loftiest 
of  all  natural  sciences,  the  analysis  and  recomposition  of  bodies. 
He  entered  the  ranks  of  the  farmers-general  to  obtain  means 


1794.]  DEATH  OF  MADAME  ELISABETH.  589 

for  experiments  on  a  large  scale,  which  might  have  made  him 
master  of  nature's  most  mysterious  secrets.  When  sentenced  to 
death  he  begged  to  be  allowed  to  finish  these  experiments ;  but 
Dumas,  vice-president  of  the  tribunal,  or  Fouquier-Tinville  replied : 
"  We  don't  need  learned  men  nowadays."  Lavoisier  died  on  the 
7th  of  May  (18th  Floreal),  and  next  day  the  sister  of  Louis  XVI., 
Madame  Elisabeth,  was  executed.  She  was  a  most  estimable 
woman,  whose  only  crimes  were  her  hatred  of  the  Eevolution  and  her 
correspondence  with  her  exiled  brothers.  It  is  said  that  Eobespierre 
wished  to  save  her,  but  was  prevented  by  Collot  D'Herbois.  An- 
other great  death  preceded  these,  but  not  on  the  scaffold.  Con- 
dorcet  escaped  the  fate  of  his  Girondist  friends  by  hiding  in  Paris 
itself,  passing  months  in  an  obscure  retreat,  where,  inspired  by  his 
noble  and  generous  wife,  he  wrote  out  his  life  work  in  "  A  Picture 
of  the  Progress  of  the  Human  Mind,"  a  broad  sketch  of  universal 
history  drawn  from  the  standpoint  of  the  doctrine  of  perfectibility. 
He  finished  it  during  the  trials  of  the  Girondists  and  Dantonists ; 
then,  trembling  lest  he  should  involve  in  his  own  ruin  the  devoted 
friend  who  sheltered  him,  fled  the  day  after  Danton's  death ;  for 
two  days  he  roamed  the  woods,  but  the  third  day  hunger  drove 
him  to  an  inn  where  he  was  arrested  as  a  suspicious  character,  and 
the  next  morning  was  found  dead,  having  swallowed  poison  which 
he  wore  in  a  ring. 

The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  was  divided  by  discord,  while 
terror  reigned  abroad.  The  enmity  and  jealousy  between  Carnot 
and  Robespierre  were  increasing,  and  Saint-Just  could  not  pardon 
the  former's  opposition  to  Danton's  death,  nor  could  Carnot  forget 
that  Saint-Just  had  forced  him  to  sign  the  report  against  Danton. 
Saint-Just  threatened  to  bring  him  to  the  guillotine ;  but  Carnot 
only  laughed  at  his  threats,  and  finally  suggested  that  the  two  com- 
mittees should  bring  an  accusal  against  Eobespierre.  They  shrank 
from  such  a  step,  and  plastered  up  the  peace. 

Eobespierre  meanwhile  increased  his  power  by  making  his  agent 
Hermann,  ex-president  of  the  tribunal,  Commissioner  of  Adminis- 
tration and  Police,  and  forming  a  special  police  bureau  to  lessen  the 


590  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXI. 

strength  of  the  Committee  of  General  Safety,  which  he  distrusted, 
thus  alienating  many  members  of  that  committee,  who,  despite  the 
efforts  of  David  and  Lebas,  at  once  went  over  to  Billaud  and  Collot. 
Robespierre  was  also  working  to  spread  his  moral  authority ;  Cou- 
thon  had  announced  a  festival  in  honor  of  the  Supreme  Being,  the 
day  after  Danton's  death,  and  on  the  7th  of  May  Robespierre  made 
a  speech  of  a  religious  nature  before  the  Convention,  invoking  free 
worship,  the  abolition  of  priests,  and  a  return  to  the  God  of  nature ; 
but  he  spoiled  his  effect  by  insulting  the  memory  of  Danton  and 
Condorcet.  He  obtained  the  following  decree  :  — 

"  The  French  nation  recognizes  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being 
and  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  It  recognizes  that  the  only  wor- 
ship worthy  of  the  Supreme  Being  is  the  practice  of  goodness  and 
duty.  It  will  celebrate  a  festival  in  honor  of  the  Supreme  Being 
on  the  2d  of  Prairial  next." 

This  festival  was  to  be  followed  by  a  series  of  national  and  religious 
holidays,  and  was  the  inauguration  of  a  national  worship  of  Deism. 

This  decree  caused  very  various  impressions  in  France  and  Eu- 
rope; many  Frenchmen  applauding  the  great  truths  and  ideas 
recalled  by  Robespierre,  and  even  hostile  governments  feeling  that 
France  was  returning  to  order  and  organization.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  many  feared  that  the  new  state  religion  would  prove  as  op- 
pressive under  the  name  of  Deism  as  the  old  one  had  under  the 
name  of  Catholicism,  and  were  alarmed  at  the  character  given  to  the 
trial  of  Chaumette  and  Gobel,  neither  of  whom  had  conspired,  any 
more  than  Clootz  before  them.  The  true  cause  of  their  death  was 
atheism,  not  conspiracy,  and  ex-bishop  Gobel  was  not  even  an  athe- 
ist, for  he  walked  to  his  execution  praying  to  God. 

The  festival  was  celebrated  on  the  20th,  not  the  2d  Prairial, 
under  the  direction  of  the  artist  David,  and  was  splendid.  The 
crowd,  seeing  the  revolutionary  government  invoke  God,  took  hope. 
The  guillotine  was  veiled,  and  they  nattered  themselves  would 
remain  so.  A  huge  staging  covered  with  parterres  was  built  in  the 
Garden  of  the  Tuileries,  upon  which  the  Convention  was  seated ; 
Robespierre  presided,  and  made  an  oration  of  a  lofty  but  vague 


1794.]  FESTIVAL  OF  THE  SUPREME  BEING.  591 

character.  "Rejoice  to-day,"  he  said;  "to-morrow  we  will  renew 
our  combat  with  vice  and  tyranny." 

A  group  of  allegorical  figures  filled  the  basin  of  the  fountain, 
representing  Atheism,  Egotism,  etc. ;  the  president  set  fire  to  them, 
and  as  they  vanished,  Wisdom  appeared,  but  sadly  blackened  by 
the  flames,  which  struck  Robespierre's  enemies  as  a  gloomy  omen. 
The  Convention  then  marched  towards  the  Champ  de  Mars ;  all  the 
deputies  in  blue  coats,  broad  collars,  tricolored  plumes  and  sashes, 
and  bearing  flowers ;  Robespierre  walked  first,  in  sky  blue,  with  a 
huge  sheaf  of  wheat-ears,  flowers,  and  fruit,  his  usually  contracted 
and  gloomy  features  beaming  with  joy.  His  was  a  strange  face,  full 
of  puzzling  contradictions  and  enigmas.  His  portraits  of  this  date 
show  the  brow  of  a  thinker,  and  gentle  eyes  that  seem  lost  in  con- 
templation, while  his  thin,  compressed  lips  are  full  of  sinister  ex- 
pression, and  give  evidence  of  the  perpetual  self-control  and  great 
nervous  tension  which  gave  rise  to  the  frequent  convulsive  twitch- 
ings  to  which  he  was  subject.  The  people  cheered,  but  the  Con- 
vention passed  on  in  silence  and  gloom.  When  they  reached  the 
Champ  de  Mars,  a  chorus  of  twenty-five  hundred  voices  intoned  a 
hymn  to  the  Supreme  Being,  written  by  Chenier,  flowers  were  scat- 
tered broadcast,  mothers  raised  their  children  to  heaven,  young  men 
drew  their  swords  and  swore  to  defend  their  country. 

The  tableau  was  as  imposing  as  that  of  the  great  Federation ;  but 
there  was  a  broad  gulf  between  it  and  that  first  happy  age  of  the 
Revolution.  The  epochs  were  separated,  in  truth,  not  by  four  short 
years,  but  by  centuries.  The  return  was  threatening.  The  Moun- 
taineers were  furious  that  Robespierre  should  play  "  the  high-priest," 
and  murmured  loudly  as  he  passed ;  some  saying,  "  He  is  not  satis- 
fied with  being  master,  he  must  be  God  ! "  and  others,  "  Brutus  still 
lives ! " 

The  festival  did  not  open  a  reign  of  mercy;  on  the  contrary, 
Robespierre  was  about  to  aggravate  the  Reign  of  Terror.  On  the 
22d  Prairial  (June  10),  Couthon  presented  to  the  Convention  the 
draft  of  a  decree  drawn  up  by  Robespierre  for  the  reform  of  the 
revolutionary  tribunal  on  the  plan  of  his  instructions  to  the  Orange 


592  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXI. 

commission,  and  suppressing  the  few  forms  and  restraints  still  left. 
No  witnesses  were  to  be  called  if  other  means  of  proof  existed. 
The  Convention,  committees,  representatives  on  missions,  and  public 
accuser  only  could  summon  a  prisoner  to  the  tribunal,  thus  putting 
a  summary  end  to  the  Convention's  last  feeble  safeguard,  its  right 
to  vote  for  or  against  the  accusation  of  any  of  its  members.  Several 
deputies  protested,  and  demanded  an  adjournment ;  but  Barere,  see- 
ing that  Eobespierre  was  so  confident,  went  over  to  his  side,  and 
they  earned  the  day.  No  member  of  either  committee  remonstrated 
with  the  Convention,  but  Billaud  attacked  Eobespierre  next  day  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  calling  him  "  an  anti- 
revolutionist,"  and  the  convention  tried  to  reconsider  its  vote ;  but 
Merlin  de  Douai  insisted  on  passing  to  the  business  of  the  day,  and 
the  measure  passed,  Couthon  and  Eobespierre  protesting  that  they 
did  not  mean  to  deprive  the  Convention  of  its  right  to  decide  the 
fate  of  its  members. 

The  scene  between  Eobespierre  and  Billaud  on  the  22d  Prairial, 
at  the  Committee,  led  to  grave  results,  the  former  feeling  that  the 
ultra-revolutionists  and  the  directors  of  great  public  services  of  the 
Committee  had  united  against  him.  Without  resigning,  he  ceased 
to  appear,  and  his  absence  soon  revealed  to  the  people  the  dissen- 
sions in  the  government  which  they  had  never  suspected.  But, 
'outside  the  Committee,  Eobespierre  had  many  allies.  Dumas, presi- 
dent of  the  tribunal,  the  judges  and  jurors,  the  administration  and 
new  police-bureau,  were  with  him ;  he  controlled  the  commune  and 
the  staff  of  the  national  guard,  and  still  ruled  at  the  Jacobin  Club, 
although  Collot,  Fouche,  and  others  endeavored  to  dispute  his  au- 
thority. He  withdrew  from  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  that 
he  might  throw  all  responsibility  upon  that  and  its  fellow-commit- 
tee, still  reserving  himself  the  right  to  return  as  ruler.  His  ene- 
mies, on  the  other  hand,  did  their  best  to  make  people  think  him 
the  author  of  all  their  ultra  and  unpopular  acts. 

Ever  since  the  festival  in  honor  of  the  Supreme  Being,  Paris  had 
been  a  prey  to  depression  alternating  with  feverish  excitement. 
People  began  to  think  that  so  many  dead  bodies  would  breed  a  pes- 


CECILE  RENAULT. 


1794.]  LAW  OF   PRAIRIAL  VINGT-DEUX.  593 

tilence.  It  was  proposed  henceforth  to  burn  them;  and  at  the 
petition  of  the  Quartier  St.  Honore*,  saddened  by  the  daily  sight  of 
wretched  victims,  the  guillotine  was  transferred  to  the  Faubourg 
St.  Antoine,  which  in  turn  complained.  Executions  multiplied  and 
prisons  overflowed  after  the  law  of  the  22d  Prairial  was  passed. 
There  were  seven  thousand  prisoners  in  the  Paris  jails  on  the  day 
after  its  enactment,  and  the  number  continually  increased,  although 
the  revolutionary  tribunal  labored  with  feverish  zeal  to  empty  the 
prisons.  On  the  26th  Prairial  a  second  batch  of  members  of  the 
parliaments  of  Paris  and  Toulouse  were  sent  to  the  guillotine. 
Three  days  after,  another  execution  of  fifty-four  persons  made  a 
much  greater  sensation. 

On  the  night  of  the  3d  Prairial  (May  22)  a  clerk  named  Ladmiral, 
after  planning  to  kill  Eobespierre,  tried  to  murder  Collot  d'Herbois. 
The  next  evening  a  young  girl  named  Cecile  Eenault  went  to  Eobes- 
pierre's  house.  He  was  out,  but  her  agitation  led  his  landlord  to 
arrest  and  search  her,  when  two  knives  were  found.  She  would  not 
acknowledge  that  she  meant  to  kill  Robespierre,  but  declared  that 
she  wanted  to  see  "  how  a  tyrant  looked."  Her  relatives  were  ar- 
rested, and  her  case  was  confounded  with  that  of  Ladmiral. 

On  the  26th  of  May  Barere  read  a  report  to  the  Convention  accus- 
ing Ladmiral  and  Eenault  of  being  agents  of  the  English  govern- 
ment, and  calling  England  "  a  nation  of  assassins."  This  trial  was 
made  a  "great  foreign  conspiracy,"  an  abyss  into  which  people 
who  were  utter  strangers  were  hurled  pell-mell,  —  Hebertists,  royal- 
ists, etc.,  among  them  a  Madame  St.  Amaranthe  and  her  daughter, 
who  kept  a  fashionable  gaming-house  at  the  Palais  Egalite"  (Palais 
Eoyal),  much  frequented  by  young  Eobespierre,  who  was  now 
maliciously  confounded  with  his  brother,  whom  they  accused  of 
protecting  these  women.  The  whole  party  were  condemned,  in- 
cluding a  distinguished  actress,  guilty  only  of  being  the  intimate 
friend  of  one  of  the  St.  Amaranthes,  and  even  her  servant,  a  poor 
little  girl  of  eighteen.  The  fifty-four  were  led  to  execution  in  the 
red  robe  worn  by  assassins  and  by  Charlotte  Corday.  All  of  these 
victims  seemed  immolated  to  Eobespierre,  and  this  caused  a  revulsion 


594  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXI. 

of  popular  opinion,  which  had  been  turned  at  first  in  his  favor  by 
the  plots  to  murder  him.  Although  these  horrors  were  partly  due 
to  his  enemies,  they  could  never  have  occurred  had  it  not  been  for 
his  law  of  the  22d  Prairial,  which  allowed  them  all  to  be  sentenced 
at  a  sitting,  and  without  a  witness  to  defend  them.  The  Committee 
aimed  to  make  him  odious  by  this  "  batch  of  red  robes,"  and  ridicu- 
lous by  an  affair  of  very  different  nature.  The  police  had  discov- 
ered a  small  sect  of  Mystics  in  the  Latin  quarter,  founded  by  Cath- 
erine Theot,  an  old  woman  who  called  herself  "  the  mother  of  God," 
and  confounded  the  Apocalypse  with  the  Eevolution ;  and  Vadier 
made  a  report  on  this  "  new  plot,"  trying  to  prove  that  she  styled 
Eobespierre  "Messiah."  The  Convention  summoned  her  and  her 
followers  to  appear  before  the  tribunal ;  but  Eobespierre  boldly  for- 
bade the  case  to  be  tried,  and  Fouquier-Tinville  obeyed  him.  Such 
a  state  of  affairs  could  not  last  long. 

Meantime  sad  news  came  from  the  Gironde  and  Dordogne.  The 
Eeign  of  Terror  had  been  revived  at  Bordeaux  by  Jullien  de  Paris, 
who  had  put  a  stop  to  the  Nantes  massacres.  This  young  fanatic 
detested  such  Hebertists  as  Carrier  and  the  Girondists  alike,  which 
explains  how,  while  humane  at  Nantes,  he  was  implacable  at  Bor- 
deaux. Every  effort  was  made  to  soften  him,  but  in  vain.  Guadet 
and  Salle,  the  Girondist  leaders,  were  captured  and  put  to  death ; 
and  Buzot,  Petion,  and  Barbaroux,  hearing  that  their  friends  were 
dead,  took  to  flight.  After  wandering  all  night,  they  heard  drums 
and  saw  troops  in  the  distance,  and  resolved  not  to  be  taken  alive. 
At  the  sound  of  a  pistol-shot  the  soldiers  ran  up  and  found  Barba- 
roux covered  with  blood,  but  he  had  only  fractured  his  jaw.  He 
was  carried  to  Bordeaux  and  beheaded.  Two  days  later  the  corpses 
of  Buzot  and  Petion  were  found  in  a  wheat-field,  half  eaten  by 
wolves.  A  month  later  their  arch-enemy,  the  great  Jacobin  leader, 
wounded  and  mutilated  in  the  same  manner  as  Barbaroux,  met  the 
same  fate.  These  wretched  relics  of  the  Girondist  party,  especially 
Buzot,  must  not  be  judged  by  their  later  writings,  which  are  filled 
with  rage  and  despair  at  Madame  Eoland's  death  and  their  party's 
ruin.  The  true  testament  of  the  Gironde  was  written  by  Gensonne' 


1794.]  EXECUTIONS  OF  PRISONERS.  595 

on  the  very  day  of  the  Girondists'  fall,  the  fatal  2d  of  June,  —  "I 
bless  the  fate  reserved  for  me,  if  my  death  can  aid  to  establish  the 
Republic."  History  has  judged  aright  the  slanders  spread  by  Jaco- 
bins and  counter-revolutionists  against  these  illustrious  patriots. 
None  of  them  dreamed  of  injuring  national  unity,  although  Madame 
Roland  and  Buzot  were  misled  as  to  France's  role  in  the  world. 
The  Mountaineers,  though  less  intellectual,  had  deeper  insight  than 
the  Girondists  ;  the  fierce  sons  of  Gaul  divined  the  destiny  of 
France  more  clearly  than  the  brilliant  pupils  of  Greece  and  Rome. 
Condorcet,  the  philosopher  and  scholar  of  the  Gironde,  shared  none 
of  his  friends'  errors,  perfectly  appreciating  French  unity  and  the 
part  Paris  had  to  play. 

While  the  last  victims  of  the  Gironde  were  dying  at  Bordeaux 
and  in  Dordogne,  horrors  were  increasing  at  Paris.  Spies  and  in- 
formers, as  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  emperors,  recalled  by  Camille 
in  the  "  Old  Cordelier,"  daily  invented  new  plots  to  ruin  and  destroy 
their  foes.  An  attempt  of  common  thieves  to  escape  from  the 
Bicetre  was  turned  into  a  political  conspiracy ;  and  Osselin,  a  Dan- 
tonist  deputy  held  in  chains  for  concealing  an  emigrant  woman,  was 
accused  of  complicity  with  them.  He  plunged  a  nail  into  his  breast, 
in  an  effort  to  escape  the  guillotine,  and  was  dragged  dying  to  his 
judges,  and  thence  to  the  scaffold.  There  was  a  mad  rivalry  be- 
tween the  ultra-terrorists  on  the  committees  and  the  Robespierrists 
of  the  police  and  tribunal.  Barere  said,  "The  people  must  be 
purged,  the  prisons  emptied ! "  And  Hermann  cried,  "  It  may  be 
necessary  to  empty  the  prisons  at  a  moment's  notice."  Robes- 
pierre signed  an  order  authorizing  the  latter  to  ferret  out  plots 
in  the  prisons,  —  the  only  political  document  he  signed  during  his 
absence  from  the  Committee  (June  25,  7th  Messidor).  He  is  there- 
fore fully  responsible  for  the  deeds  of  Hermann  and  his  agents.  A 
pretended  plot  was  discovered  in  the  Luxembourg  involving  one 
hundred  and  fifty-nine  persons,  all  but  ten  of  whom  were  put  to 
death.  Then  came  the  Carmelite  "  batch "  of  forty-five,  among 
them  General  de  Beauharnais,  father  of  Eugene  de  Beauhamais. 
Thenceforth  from  twenty  to  forty  were  condemned  daily,  people  of 


596  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXI. 

every  age,  condition,  and  sex  meeting  at  the  scaffold,  until  even 
Billaud  and  Collot  d'Herbois  protested.  The  old  revolutionary  tri- 
bunal in  a  little  more  than  a  year  condemned  twelve  hundred  and 
fifty-six  persons  to  death;  while  the  new  one,  installed  the  22d 
Prairial,  within  six  weeks  sentenced  thirteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  !  A  civil  crisis  was  fast  approaching. 

On  the  13th  Messidor  (July  1)  Eobespierre,  strengthened  by 
Saint- Just's  return  and  the  victory  at  Fleurus,  inveighed  against 
the  "  indulgent  faction  "  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  recriminating  against 
those  who  accused  him  of  tyranny,  and  complaining  that  some 
of  his  colleagues  "retailed  these  slanders."  "If  I  am  forced  to 
renounce  a  part  of  the  duties  intrusted  to  me  (those  of  the  Com- 
mittee) my  office  of  representative  will  still  remain,  and  I  shall 
wage  deadly  war  with  tyranny  and  conspiracy!"  On  the  9th 
of  July  he  attacked  Barere,  at  the  same  place,  for  taking  a  middle 
course.  Payan,  the  national  agent  of  the  commune,  and  other 
Eobespierrist  leaders  urged  their  chief  to  assume  the  offensive,  and 
to  bring  about  another  31st  of  May,  and  convoked  the  revolutionary 
committees  at  the  Commune,  thus  openly  rebelling  against  the 
recent  law  forbidding  such  meetings.  The  Committee  of  Public 
Welfare  prevented  the  gathering,  but  did  not  punish  the  leaders. 
Both  sides  faltered.  Carnot,  keeping  to  his  resolve  at  Danton's  death, 
advised  his  party  to  wait  and  watch.  The  Committee,  however, 
did  a  very  significant  thing  in  putting  down  Eobespierre's  tool, 
the  police  bureau.  We  are  assured  that  Saint- Just,  on  his  return, 
plainly  told  the  two  Committees  that  public  welfare  required  a  dic- 
tatorship, and  Eobespierre  must  be  the  dictator,  but  they  repulsed 
him  with  scorn.  On  the  eve  of  the  great  struggle,  whose  results 
none  could  guess,  the  two  Committees  made  a  last  effort  at  recon- 
ciliation, calling  Eobespierre  before  them  on  the  evening  of  July 
22,  and  frankly  telling  him  their  grievances  against  him;  but 
he  only  answered  by  reproaches,  especially  against  Carnot.  The 
stern  Billaud  was  most  gentle  on  this  occasion ;  seeming  to  feel  that 
Eobespierre's  fall  would  involve  all  the  ultra-revolutionists  of  the 
Committee  of  Public  Welfare.  But  they  could  not  agree;  Eobes- 


1794.]  DEATH  OF  CHEWIER.  597 

pierre  was  convinced  that  he  must  be  dictator,  as  were  Saint-Just 
and  Couthon.  Governmental  discords  were  generally  hidden  from 
the  public ;  but  now  every  one  knew  that  a  shock  was  coming,  and 
prepared  for  it. 

Next  day  Couthon  complained  at  the  Club  that  Carnot,  in  the 
name  of  the  Committees,  had  driven  from  Paris  a  party  of  gunners 
of  the  national  guard  who  passed  for  Jacobins  and  Bobespierrists, 
and  said  that  there  were  five  or  six  foreign  agents  in  the  Conven- 
tion. The  day  after,  a  deputation  of  Jacobins  appeared  before  the 
Convention  to  accuse  "the  indulgents"  and  denounce  "the  army 
commissioner"  (Carnot),  who,  they  said,  "  seemed  to  shroud  himself 
in  darkness."  "  He  has  ample  means  at  his  disposal  for  his  coun- 
try's defence ;  may  he  not  use  them  for  treasonable  purposes  ? " 

Barere,  frightened  at  the  Jacobins'  attitude,  again  tried  to  appease 
Eobespierre  by  a  vague  speech,  in  which  he  attacked  the  memory 
of  the  Hebertists,  Girondists,  and  Danton.  The  same  day,  one  of 
the  saddest  of  the  Eevolution  (July  25),  the  great  poet  Andre* 
Chenier  mounted  the  scaffold,  —  the  brother  of  that  other  poet, 
Marie-Joseph,  the  author  of  the  Chant  du  Depart  and  so  many 
noble  republican  poems.  Andre*  Chenier,  who  revived  in  France 
the  inspiration  of  antique  poetry  and  the  beauty  of  Greek  art,  had 
remained  attached  to  the  Feuillant  and  constitutional  party,  while 
his  brother  had  ardently  devoted  himself  to  the  Republic,  and 
had  written  fiery  pamphlets  and  magnificent  verses  against  the 
Mountaineers,  which  cost  him  his  life.  His  brother,  himself  men- 
aced as  a  Dantonist,  could  not  save  him.  Barere's  report  seemed  to 
show  that  the  Committee  ought  to  bend  to  Robespierre's  will,  or  at 
least  to  treat  with  him ;  which  would  have  been  a  death-blow  to 
those  deputies  of  the  Mountain  whose  heads  Robespierre  desired, 
and  who  had  hitherto  only  been  saved  by  the  energy  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Welfare.  One  of  them,  Lecointre  de  Versailles, 
an  eccentric  but  daring  fellow,  at  once  prepared  a  memorial  to  the 
Committee,  demanding  Robespierre's  indictment,  and  eight  or  ten 
of  his  colleagues  swore  to  "  slay  the  tyrant  in  the  midst  of  the  Con- 
vention "  if  it  were  refused.  Among  them  were  Barras  and  Freron, 


598  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION".  [CHAP.  XXI. 

the  tyrants  of  Provence.  The  latter  was  a  friend  of  Lucille  and 
Camille,  but  had  not  dared  defend  them;  now  menaced  in  his 
turn,  he  was  disposed  to  avenge  their  death.  Tallien,  another  of 
the  number,  had  meekly  borne  the  insults  of  Eobespierre  and  Cou- 
thon  rather  than  quarrel  with  them.  He  received  a  letter  from 
his  wife,  whom  he  tenderly  loved,  and  who  had  been  arrested  as 
suspected,  saying,  "To-morrow  I  go  to  the  tribunal;  I  am  dying 
of  despair  that  I  ever  belonged  to  such  a  coward  as  you!"  He 
bought  a  dagger,  and  resolved  to  kill  either  Eobespierre  or  him- 
self. 

Eobespierre  pursued  his  wonted  course.  He  first  sent  the  Jaco- 
bins to  stagger  the  Convention,  and  then  attacked  it  in  person,  on 
the  8th  of  Thermidor,  in  a  speech  which  he  had  been  a  month 
preparing. 

He  began  with  an  able  plea  against  the  charge  of  tyranny,  deny- 
ing that  he  wished  to  proscribe  "  innocent  members  of  the  Conven- 
tion," and  insisting  that  he  had  fought  against  the  proscription 
of  "a  part  of  the  Assembly,"  meaning  the  sixty-two  deputies  of 
the  right  wing  detained  on  suspicion,  whose  trial  he  had  prevented. 
This  was  an  appeal  to  the  Eight  and  Centre.  Then  he  addressed 
the  remnant  of  the  Mountain  party,  whose  chiefs  he  had  slain, 
saying  that  he  knew  "  but  two  parties,  good  and  bad  citizens,  and 
did  not  impute  the  crimes  of  Brissot,  Hebert,  and  Danton  to  those 
they  deceived." 

From  the  defensive  he  passed  to  the  offensive.  "My  enemies' 
fury  has  redoubled  since  the  feast  was  held  in  honor  of  the  Su- 
preme Being,  which  the  apostles  of  atheism  and  immorality  cannot 
forget."  He  then  complained  that  he  had  been  made  responsible 
for  every  iniquitous  action  committed.  "  Calumny  and  lack  of 
power  to  do  good  and  arrest  evil  have  caused  me  to  resign  my 
position  in  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare.  My  pretended  dic- 
tatorship expired  six  weeks  since,  and  with  it  all  my  influence 
in  the  government.  Has  the  country  been  the  happier  ?  I  hope 
so!  Who  has  charge  of  the  army,  administration,  and  finance 
of  the  Eepublic  ?  The  coalition  who  are  pursuing  me.  Not  con- 


MADAME     TALLIEN. 


1794.]  SPEECH  BY  ROBESPIERRE.  599 

tent  with  removing  an  inconvenient  spy,  they  plot  to  rob  him  of 
his  right  to  defend  the  people  with  his  life.  I  yield  it  without 
regret !  Death  is  not,  as  some  say,  '  an  eternal  sleep ' !  Erase 
from  the  tombs  that  maxim,  graven  by  sacrilegious  hands,  (the 
Hebertists,  who  wrote  over  the  gates  of  cemeteries,  '  Death  is  an 
eternal  sleep ! ')  and  put  in  its  place,  '  Death  is  the  dawn  of  immor- 
tality!'" 

With  these  lofty  religious  ideas,  brusquely  introduced  into  a 
political  polemic,  he  mingled  fierce  reproaches,  complaining  that 
the  decree  against  the  English  had  been  violated,  and  that  philan- 
thropic farces  were  played  in  Belgium,  and  accusing  the  Committee 
of  favoring  aristocracy  and  leaning  to  indulgence.  In  the  printed 
copy  of  his  speech  he  mentions  Carnbon,  but  he  did  not  name  him 
to  the  Convention,  although  it  was  very  evident  that  he  had  him 
in  mind.  He  repeated  that  the  royal  armies  had  been  withdrawn 
only  to  leave  France  a  prey  to  civil  dissension,  renewed  his  predic- 
tions of  1791  and  1792  as  to  the  approach  of  military  despotism, 
and  concluded  by  saying :  "  The  truth  must  be  told !  A  guilty 
coalition  exists  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  Convention,  and  has 
accomplices  in  both  Committees.  What  is  the  remedy  for  this 
evil  ?  To  purge  both  Committees  and  establish  the  unity  of  the 
government  under  the  supreme  sway  of  the  Convention." 

He  left  this  threat  hanging  over  his  enemies'  heads,  accusing 
them  without  calling  them  by  name,  so  that  every  one  might 
think  himself  in  danger.  This  was  a  great  mistake,  and  deprived 
him  of  any  advantage  won  by  his  skill  in  reassuring  the  main  body 
of  the  Assembly. 

Lecointre,  Robespierre's  enemy,  moved  by  a  singular  impulse, 
demanded  the  printing  of  this  speech.  Another  anti-Eobespierrist 
deputy,  Bourdon  de  1'Oise,  opposed  this;  but  Barere  favored  it. 
Couthon  proposed  that  the  speech  should  be  sent  to  all  the  com- 
munes, and  the  Convention  agreed.  Robespierre  seemed  to  tri- 
umph. Cambon  rushed  to  the  stand,  crying,  "Let  me  speak  to 
France  before  I  am  dishonored!"  and  defended  himself  with  the 
energy  of  an  indomitable  spirit  and  irreproachable  conscience.  "A 


600  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXI. 

stranger  to  all  factions,"  said  he,  "  I  have  denounced  them  by  turn 
when  they  have  attacked  the  public  welfare.  It  is  indeed  time  the 
truth  were  told.  A  single  man  paralyzes  the  will  of  the  Conven- 
tion ;  that  man  is  Eobespierre ! " 

Robespierre  recoiled.  He  had  just  branded  the  Board  of  Finance 
as  rogues ;  now  he  said  that  he  censured  Cambon's  financial  opin- 
ions without  attacking  his  motives  ! 

Billaud-Varennes  then  took  the  floor.  He  called  on  the  Conven- 
tion to  examine  Robespierre's  speech  before  they  sent  it  to  the  com- 
munes, and  insisted  that  it  should  be  referred  to  the  Committees. 

"  What ! "  cried  Robespierre,  "  would  you  refer  my  speech  to  the 
very  men  whom  I  accuse  ? " 

"  Name  those  whom  you  accuse ! "  was  the  cry. 

"  I  proposed  the  printing  of  this  speech/'  said  Barere,  "  because  I 
think  that  everything  should  be  published  in  a  free  country.  We 
will  reply  to  this  declamation  by  the  victories  of  our  armies."  And 
he  read  despatches  announcing  the  capture  of  Nieuport,  Brussels, 
and  Mechlin,  and  the  entry  of  the  French  into  Antwerp  amid  "  the 
applause  of  a  nation."  Such  was  Carnot's  reply  to  the  charges  of 
Robespierre  and  Saint-Just.  Robespierre  was  defeated  ;  the  Centre 
and  Right  gave  way ;  but  the  speech  was  not  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittees, as  Billaud  had  demanded. 

"  I  expect  nothing  further  from  the  Mountain,"  said  Robespierre, 
"  but  the  body  of  the  Convention  shall  hear  me  ! "  He  repeated 
his  speech  at  the  Jacobin  Club  that  night  with  vast  success.  "  It 
is  my  last  will  and  testament,"  said  he.  "  I  leave  my  reputation  in 
your  hands :  do  you  defend  it!  I  am  about  to  drink  the  hemlock!" 
"  Let  me  share  it  with  you ! "  cried  David,  who  had  made  Socrates 
drinking  the  poison  the  subject  of  one  of  his  finest  pictures. 

Dumas,  the  president  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal,  declared  that 
the  government  had  become  anti-revolutionary,  and,  turning  to  Bil- 
laud and  Collot,  who  had  bearded  Robespierre  in  the  Jacobin  head- 
quarters, assured  them  that  they  must  "  share  the  fate  of  Danton 
and  Hebert."  They  tried  to  answer,  but  were  silenced  by  curses. 
"  The  conspirators  must  perish ! "  cried  Couthon.  The  majority  of 


1794.]  THERMIDOR  NEUF.  601 

the  Club  rose,  exclaiming, "  To  the  guillotine  with  the  conspirators !" 
They  were  forced  to  fly,  and  the  minority  followed  them. 

Meantime  the  commune,  led  by  an  energetic  and  capable  man, 
Payan,  was  preparing  to  repeat  the  31st  of  May  on  the  morrow. 
It  ordered  Hanriot,  captain  of  the  national  guard,  to  assemble  his 
troops  at  seven  o'clock  on  the  9th  of  Thermidor.  Payan  and  Cof- 
finhal,  the  vice-president  of  the  tribunal,  offered  to  raise  a  revolt  in 
favor  of  Robespierre ;  but  he  refused,  still  hoping  to  turn  the  Con- 
vention against  the  Committees  by  his  eloquence. 

On  leaving  the  Jacobin  Club,  Collot  d'Herbois  hurried  to  the 
Committee  of  Public  Welfare,  where  he  found  all  his  colleagues 
but  Eobespierre  and  Couthon  hard  at  work  as  usual.  Carnot  was 
poring  over  maps  and  plans,  while  Saint-Just  was  writing  alone 
at  a  table.  Collot  seized  him  by  the  arm,  crying  fiercely,  "  You 
are  drawing  up  an  indictment ! "  "I  am !  "  said  Saint- Just,  with 
"  marble  coldness,"  as  Collot  called  it  next  day ;  "  I  am  writing  out 
your  indictment.  Nor  are  you  forgotten  in  it ! "  turning  to  Carnot. 
And  he  recriminated  by  accusing  the  majority  of  both  Committees 
of  a  desire  to  indict  Eobespierre.  Those  present  denied  the  charge. 
Saint-Just  thereupon  recalled  his  words,  saying  that  the  report  he 
was  drawing  up  set  forth  causes  of  complaint,  but  did  not  go  so  far 
as  to  propose  indictment,  and  promising  to  read  it  to  both  Commit- 
tees before  the  meeting  of  the  Convention,  During  this  angry 
argument,  which  occupied  the  whole  night,  Cambon,  Freron,  and 
Lecointre  came,  one  after  the  other,  to  urge  the  Committees  to  arrest 
the  mayor,  Fleuriot-Lescot,  Payan,  and  Hanriot,  who  were  sum- 
moned but  soon  dismissed.  The  Committees  hesitated  to  strike,  as 
Eobespierre  had  hesitated  to  authorize  insurrection.  While  they 
were  wasting  time  the  ringleaders  of  the  Mountain,  who  knew  their 
heads  were  in  danger,  had  been  more  active,  and  had  negotiated 
with  the  Eight  and  Centre  of  the  Convention,  promising  to  stop  the 
Eeign  of  Terror.  "  You  will  be  its  victims  in  turn,"  said  they,  "  if 
Eobespierre  triumphs."  Their  advances,  twice  repulsed,  were  finally 
accepted,  in  the  hope  that  the  government  and  the  majority  would 
come  over  to  them  if  the  dictator  fell 


602  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXL 

^ 

The  Committees  waited  in  vain  for  Saint-Just  and  his  report.  At 
noon  a  letter  was  brought  from  him.  "  Injustice,"  wrote  he,  "  has 
blighted  my  heart ;  I  would  fain  lay  it  bare  to  the  Convention." 
At  the  same  moment  they  heard  that  the  session  was  open,  and  that 
Saint- Just  had  the  floor.  "  Come ! "  cried  old  Kiihl,  of  the  General 
Safety  Committee ;  "  come,  let  us  unmask  these  villains,  or  give  our 
heads  to  the  Convention ! "  Both  Committees  repaired  at  once  to 
the  Assembly,  and  were  applauded  on  their  entrance,  which  was  a 
good  sign.  Saint-Just's  report  was  in  a  new  vein,  temperate  in  tone, 
and  only  accusing  four  members  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Wel- 
fare, —  Barere,  Carnot,  Billaud,  and  Collot,  more  particularly  the 
two  latter.  Moreover  he  did  not  formally  indict  them,  saying  that 
he  wished  them  "  to  justify  themselves." 

He  demanded  that  every  act  of  the  Committees  should  have  at 
least  six  signatures,  to  prevent  charges  by  a  triumvirate  or  dictator, 
and  proposed  in  vague  terms  that  institutions  should  be  formed 
which,  without  detracting  from  the  revolutionary  rigor  of  the  gov- 
ernment, would  prevent  it  from  tending  to  arbitrary  measures,  from 
favoring  ambition,  and  from  oppressing  or  usurping  national  repre- 
sentation. This  clever  subterfuge  seemed  to  make  compromise  pos- 
sible ;  but  why  had  he  broken  faith  with  the  Committees,  when  any 
effort  to  renew  the  reconciliation  of  the  5th  Thermidor  should  have 
been  made  in  their  midst  ?  Since  he  had  failed  to  make  his  ap- 
pearance among  them,  the  Committees  felt  that  he  was  there  only 
to  demand  their  lives.  The  ringleaders  of  the  Mountain,  sure  of 
the  Eight,  were  resolved,  for  their  part,  "  to  end  the  matter  at  once." 
They  agreed  not  to  allow  Robespierre  or  Saint-Just  to  speak ;  and 
it  is  alleged  that  Sieyes,  who  had  been  silent  so  long  as  to  be  for- 
gotten on  the  benches  of  the  Centre,  said, "  Death,  without  phrases ! " 
At  the  first  word  of  Saint-Just,  Tallien  interrupted  him,  followed  by 
Billaud- Varennes.  Barere,  anxious  for  compromise,  tried  to  silence 
the  latter ;  but  he,  angered  by  his  reception  by  the  Jacobins  the 
night  before,  burst  into  a  fiery,  incoherent  harangue,  and  violently 
stirred  up  the  whole  Assembly.  "  The  Assembly,"  said  he,  "  stands 
between  two  butcheries  !  It  will  perish  if  it  falters  ! " 


1794.]  ROBESPIERRE'S  DEFENCE.  603 

"  No,  no  ! "  cried  the  deputies,  rising  and  waving  their  hats.  The 
tribunes  replied  by  cries  of,  "Long  live  the  Convention!  Long 
live  the  Committee!" 

"We  will  all  perish  in  Liberty's  cause,"  continued  Billaud; 
"there  is  not  a  man  among  us  who  would  live  under  a  tyrant's 
rule  ! " 

"  No,  no  ! "  cried  the  deputies.     "  Down  with  tyrants ! " 

But  he,  proceeding  to  heap  up  charges  against  Robespierre,  took 
it  into  his  head  to  reproach  him  with  having  protested  like  a  mad- 
man the  first  time  he,  Billaud,  denounced  Danton  to  the  Com- 
mittees. A  murmur  was  raised.  These  words  froze  the  Mountain 
and  disarmed  Dubois-Crance',  Merlin  de  Thionville,  and  many 
others.  If  anything  could  have  saved  Robespierre,  it  would  have 
been  this  outburst  of  ultra-terrorism.  Robespierre  rushed  to  the 
stand.  All  who  believed  themselves  lost  if  he  escaped  raised  furious 
cries  of :  "  Down  with  the  tyrant ! "  The  tumult  became  frightful. 
Tallien  declared  that  he  had  armed  himself  with  a  dagger  to  slay 
this  new  Cromwell,  if  the  Convention  dared  not  indict  him,  and 
demanded  the  arrest  of  Hanriot  and  his  staff.  This  was  voted,  and 
was  followed  by  that  of  Dumas  for  his  conduct  at  the  Jacobin  Club 
the  day  before.  Robespierre  again  insisted  on  speaking,  but  was 
silenced  by  loud  shouts.  The  Assembly  ordered  Barere  to  issue 
a  proclamation  to  the  people,  in  which  he  briefly  refuted  Robes- 
pierre's speech  of  the  preceding  day,  but  in  a  lukewarm  manner, 
bearing  in  mind  the  possibility  that  he  might  yet  escape. 

The  session  was  prolonged.  Charges  were  heaped  on  charges. 
Tallien  summed  them  up,  and  skilfully  concentrated  them  upon 
Robespierre's  famous  speech. 

Robespierre  now  turned  to  the  Mountain,  looking  anxiously  for 
some  support.  Both  Dantonists  and  Hebertists  overwhelmed  him 
with  invectives,  and  the  few  patriots  independent  of  any  party 
sadly  turned  their  heads,  loath  to  crush  him,  but  unwilling  to 
save  the  dictatorship  in  his  person.  Desperate  and  furious,  he 
turned  again  to  the  Right,  crying :  "  To  you,  pure  men,  I  address 
myself,  not  to  thieves ! "  They  only  replied  by  ironical  shouts. 


604  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXL 

All  the  parties  whose  proud  heads  he  had  humbled  repulsed  him. 
It  seemed  as  if  each  group  of  the  Assembly  saw  the  ghosts  of 
their  murdered  friends  pointing  to  him  to  dictate  his  arrest, — 
here,  Danton,  Camille,  and  Lucille;  there,  Madame  Eoland  and 
Yergniaud ;  and,  farther  on,  Thouret  and  Barnave.  He  breathlessly 
addressed  the  president,  the  Dantonist  Thuriot,  who  had  lately 
replaced  Collot :  "  For  the  last  time,  president  of  assassins,  I  de- 
mand a  hearing!"  Thuriot  replied  only  by  violently  ringing  his 
belL  Eobespierre's  voice  was  stifled  with  rage.  "  Dantou's  blood 
chokes  you ! "  exclaimed  Deputy  Gamier  de  L'Aube.  Eobespierre 
drew  himself  up,  and  made  the  terrible  answer :  "  Ah,  you  wish  to 
avenge  Danton !  Cowards  !  why  did  you  not  defend  him  ? " 

Two  obscure  Mountaineers,  Louchet  and  Lozeau,  instantly  de- 
manded the  indictment  of  Eobespierre.  The  Assembly  hesitated 
to  take  this  formidable  step.  The  applause  was  faint  at  first,  but 
soon  burst  forth  on  all  sides. 

"  I  am  as  guilty  as  my  brother,"  cried  young  Eobespierre ;  "  you 
must  indict  me  with  him ! " 

Eobespierre  tried  to  defend  his  brother  and  prevent  this  sacrifice, 
again  addressing  the  president.  A  voice  cried  out :  "  Mr.  President, 
shall  one  man  rule  the  Convention  ? " 

"  He  has  ruled  us  too  long,"  cried  another. 

"  How  hard  it  is  to  overthrow  a  tyrant ! "  said  Freron. 

"  Put  his  arrest  to  vote  I"  was  heard  on  all  sides ;  and  the  arrest 
was  decreed. 

Louchet,  who  had  been  the  first  to  demand  it,  said :  "  This  in- 
cludes the  two  Eobespierres,  Saint- Just,  and  Couthon!" 

"  Yes,  yes ! "  cried  the  members ;  and  Couthon  bravely  declared 
that  he  would  accept  his  share  of  responsibility  for  his  friends, 
deeds.  Lebas,  Eobespierre's  friend  and  Saint-Just's  associate, 
rushed  forward,  although  many  who  esteemed  him  strove  to  hold 
him  back,  and  exclaimed :  "  I  will  not  participate  in  the  opprobrium 
of  this  decree ;  arrest  me  too ! "  His  arrest  was  decreed. 

"  Citizens,"  said  Collot,  "  you  have  saved  the  country !  Your 
enemies  would  have  repeated  the  rebellion  of  the  31st  of  May!" 


1794.]  ARREST  OF  ROBESPIERRE.  605 

"  He  lies ! "  shrieked  Robespierre.  The  uproar  was  frightful. 
The  ushers  dar^d  not  arrest  men  who  had  shaken  the  world. 

"  To  the  bar !  to  the  bar ! "  was  the  cry  ; — "to  the  bar  with  them ! " 
They  were  taken  down,  and  the  session  closed  at  half  past  five 
in  the  evening. 

At  the  news  of  what  had  taken  place  in  the  Convention,  the 
famous  SansOn,  the  executioner,  through  whose  hands  king,  queen, 
and  all  the  party  leaders  had  passed,  went  to  Fouquier-Tinville 
to  ask  if  he  should  not  suspend  the  day's  executions.  "  Nothing 
must  delay  the  course  of  justice,"  was  the  reply.  The  forty-five 
condemned  men  were  led  forth  without  an  escort,  —  all  the  gen- 
darmes having  been  summoned  around  him  by  Hanriot,  in  view 
of  the  projected  movement.  The  executioner  and  his  assistants 
hoped  that  their  victims  might  be  wrested  from  them  by  the  way ; 
the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine  was  in  commotion,  and  the  people  began 
to  stop  the  tumbrils.  Unluckily,  Hanriot  with  his  men  was  just 
passing ;  he  dispersed  the  mob,  and  ordered  the  procession  to  move 
on,  and  the  forty-five  unfortunates  met  their  predecessors'  fate. 

The  arrest  of  Robespierre  and  his  friends  did  not  decide  the 
question,  for  his  party  was  still  strong.  When  the  Convention 
adjourned,  the  commune,  under  energetic  leaders,  assumed  an 
insurrectionary  attitude.  Payan  framed  a  violent  address  to  the 
people,  which  the  mayor  signed,  directed  against  "  the  wretches 
who  tyrannized  over  the  Convention  and  persecuted  Robespierre 
and  his  friends."  The  envoys  of  the  Committees  were  arrested  at 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  sections  were  convened,  and  the  artillery 
was  called  out.  "  The  patriots  under  arrest  were  placed  in  the 
people's  keeping,"  the  alarm-bell  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  was  rung, 
and  the  Jacobin  Club  was  warned  that  the  council-general  of  the 
Commune  had  risen  against  the  "  new  conspirators."  The  Jacobins 
replied  that  they  would  conquer  or  die  rather  than  yield  to  the 
conspirators'  yoke,  and  that  they  should  remain  permanently  in 
session.  The  council-general  then  chose  an  executive  committee 
"  for  the  safety  of  the  Republic."  Had  the  military  leader  of  the 
Robespierrists  equalled  their  civil  leader,  the  Convention  would 


606  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXL 

probably  have  been  lost ;  but  Hanriot  did  nothing  but  scour  the 
streets,  in  a  drunken  fashion,  summoning  to  arms  the  startled  and 
terrified  people  who  did  not  follow  him.  When  he  found  that  he 
could  not  move  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine,  he  returned  to  the  Tuile- 
ries,  where  the  feeble  outpost  guarding  the  Convention  barred  his 
way,  and  an  usher  told  the  gendarmes  of  the  order  issued  against 
their  leader.  They  faltered,  and  Hanriot  returned  with  them 
to  the  Eue  St.  Honore,  where  he  and  his  staff  were  seized,  bound, 
and  taken  before  the  Committee  of  General  Safety.  When  the 
general  council  heard  this  news,  it  sent  Coffinhal,  vice-president  of 
the  tribunal,  with  all  the  gunners  under  his  command,  to  "free 
the  patriots  arrested."  Coffinhal  instantly  delivered  Hanriot,  but 
could  not  rescue  Eobespierre  and  his  colleagues,  who  had  been  sent 
to  various  prisons,  though  he  might  have  done  more,  if  Hanriot 
had  been  equally  energetic.  The  gendarmes  had  returned  to  their 
leader,  and  the  Convention  was  guarded  by  a  mere  handful  of  men. 
Coffinhal  wished  to  attack  them,  but  at  the  cry  of  "  Outlaw,"  raised 
by  a  group  in  the  court  of  the  Tuileries,  Hanriot's  heart  failed  him, 
and  he  turned  back  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

Robespierre  was  taken  to  the  Luxembourg,  but  by  order  of  the 
commune  the  jailer  refused  to  receive  him.  He  would  not  go 
to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  under  pretence  of  respecting  the  Convention's 
order  against  him,  and  hoping  to  be  acquitted  by  the  tribunal  as 
Marat  had  been.  He  asked  to  be  taken  to  what  afterwards  became 
the  Prefecture  of  Police,  and  remained  a  voluntary  prisoner.  He 
resisted  the  commune's  first  summons,  and  Coffinhal  took  him  to  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  against  his  will. 

"  You  are  destroying  me,"  he  said,  "  and  the  Republic  with  me  ! " 

At  the  Hotel  de  Ville  he  was  joined  by  his  brother,  Saint-Just, 
Couthon,  and  Lebas,  torn  from  their  prisons  by  the  commune. 

When  the  Convention  heard  that  Hanriot  had  been  set  free,  and 
was  at  its  doors,  for  a  moment  it  thought  itself  lost.  The  president, 
Collot  d'Herbois,  exclaimed  in  a  lugubrious  voice  :  "  Citizens,  let  us 
die  at  our  posts  ! "  On  finding  that  it  was  not  attacked,  it  made 
Barras  captain  of  the  national  guard,  and  outlawed,  together  with 


1794.]      TRIAL  OF  ROBESPIERRE  AND   SAINT-JUST.          607 

the  municipality  and  the  rebellious  public  officers,  Robespierre  and 
all  who  had  withdrawn  themselves  from  arrest.  Many  of  the 
national  guard  protested  their  devotion  to  the  Convention,  others 
declared  for  Robespierre  and  the  commune,  while  some  few  were 
divided.  The  people  did  not  stir  during  this  famous  night:  the 
struggle  was  between  two  fluctuating  minorities,  and  in  no  wise 
resembled  the  first  days  of  the  Revolution  from  the  14th  of  July  to 
the  10th  of  August  The  people  were  struck  dumb  by  so  many 
awful  events  in  the  city.  The  seat  of  the  tribunal  was  neutral  for 
a  long  time.  President  Dumas  and  vice-president  Coffinhal  were 
with  the  rebellious  commune;  Fouquier-Tinville  remained  doubtful ; 
and  Hermann,  the  Robespierrist  commissary  of  the  interior  and 
general  police,  went  over  to  the  other  side,  and  signed  the  orders 
for  arrest  sent  by  the  Committees.  The  tocsin  of  Notre  Dame 
was  silent.  The  city  national  guard  at  last  declared  for  the  Conven- 
tion, and  occupied  the  Pont-Neuf  with  cannon.  The  faubourgs  of 
St.  Antoine  and  St.  Marceau  were  excited  by  a  rumor,  spread 
by  friends  of  the  Convention,  that  Robespierre  wished  to  reinstate 
royalty. 

Had  Robespierre  and  Saint-Just  assumed  the  offensive  and 
appeared  before  the  gunners,  gendarmes,  and  people  of  the  sec- 
tions assembled  before  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  they  might  have  tri- 
umphed ;  but  Robespierre  hesitated,  a  prey  to  cruel  anguish,  and 
Saint-Just  had  lost  his  accustomed  energy.  The  paralytic,  Couthon, 
alone  showed  the  spirit  of  action,  saying,  as  they  reached  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  "  \Ve  must  write  to  the  army  at  once ! " 

"  In  whose  name  ? "  was  Robespierre's  reply,  meaning,  "  By  what 
right  ? "  This  terrible  man  still  had  a  conscience ! 

Payan  and  the  other  leaders  had  drawn  up  an  insurrectionary 
manifesto,  addressed  to  the  sections,  which  Robespierre  was  asked 
to  sign ;  he  traced  the  first  letters  of  his  name  and  dropped  the  pen  ; 
whether  voluntarily,  or  because  he  was  interrupted  by  the  shot 
that  struck  him,  we  cannot  say.  The  paper  stained  with  his  blood 
is  still  in  existence.  When  we  think  of  all  his  evil  deeds,  when  we 
condemn  his  memory,  let  us  remember,  if  we  would  be  just,  that  he 
died  through  having  hesitated  to  become  a  tyrant ! 


608  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXI. 

Death  was  approaching.  Two  columns  of  soldiers  and  national 
guards,  led,  the  one  by  Barras  and  Freron,  the  other  by  deputy  Bour- 
don, Chaumette's  friend,  marched  upon  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The  lat- 
ter's  troop  was  principally  composed  of  ultra-revolutionists,  with  whom 
Chaumette  had  been  most  popular.  Ideas  of  communism  were  rife 
among  them,  which  Robespierre  had  punished,  putting  to  death  the 
chief  instigator,  the  priest  Jacques  Eoux,  whose  friends,  with  those 
of  Chaumette,  thirsted  for  revenge.  The  troops  assembled  before  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  receiving  no  orders  from  Hanriot,  and  wrought  upon 
by  agents  of  the  Convention,  gradually  dispersed.  But  at  the  head  of 
Bourdon's  column  was  a  young  man  named  Meda,  who  had  been  the 
first  to  turn  against  Hanriot  in  the  afternoon,  and  had  laid  hands  on 
him.  He  felt  that  if  Robespierre  triumphed  he  must  fall,  and 
resolved  upon  a  desperate  stroke.  Profiting  by  the  confusion  inside 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  he  made  his  way  into  it,  and  advanced  from 
room  to  room  through  crowds  of  anxious  Robespierrists,  passing 
for  an  ordnance  officer  of  their  party,  until  he  reached  the  apartment 
occupied  by  Robespierre  and  his  friends,  when  he  drew  his  pistol 
and  fired.  Robespierre  fell,  the  ball  breaking  his  jaw.  The  other 
soldiers  rushed  in,  and  most  of  the  Robespierrists  were  captured. 
No  resistance  was  offered.  Lebas  blew  out  his  brains;  young  Robes- 
pierre threw  himself  from  the  window,  and  was  picked  up  mangled 
but  breathing.  Hanriot  was  flung  out  by  Coffinhal,  who  seized  him 
in  his  arms,  crying,  "  Coward  !  you  have  caused  our  ruin  !  "  Saint- 
Just  and  Couthon  quietly  submitted  to  arrest. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  all  was  over.  The  wounded 
were  carried  and  the  prisoners  dragged  to  the  Convention.  .The 
impassible  Saint-Just  showed  no  emotion  until  he  saw  Robes- 
pierre stretched  bleeding  on  a  table.  Amid  the  cruel  sufferings 
caused  by  his  wound,  and  the  insults  of  the  rabble  so  lately  at 
his  feet,  Robespierre's  courage  never  faltered  for  an  instant;  not 
a  complaint  passed  his  lips.  The  10th  Thermidor,  at  one  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  Robespierre  and  Saint-Just  appeared  in  their 
turn  before  the  tribunal  to  which  they  had  sent  so  many  party 
leaders.  The  president  of  the  Prairial  tribunal,  Dumas,  took 


1794.]      DEATH  OF  ROBESPIERRE  AND  SAINT-JUST.         609 

his  place  beside  them.  No  change  had  occurred  in  the  public 
prosecutor :  Fouquier-Tinville  prosecuted  Eobespierre  as  he  had 
prosecuted  Vergniaud,  Marie  Antoinette,  and  Danton.  He  only 
had  to  establish  their  identity,  Kobespierre  and  his  friends  being 
outlawed.  The  scaffold  had  been  restored  to  the  Place  de  la  Eevo- 
lution.  It  was  due,  at  least,  to  such  criminals  to  send  them  to  the 
spot  where  all  the  great  victims  of  the  Revolution  had  suffered. 

The  streets,  windows,  and  even  the  roofs  were  crowded  as  the 
procession  went  -by.  The  fashionable  world,  that  had  so  long  been 
hidden,  came  forth  in  crowds.  The  "  furies  of  the  guillotine  "  gave 
way  to  other  mockers.  Eobespierre  and  Saint-Just  silently  endured 
outrage  and  insult,  the  former  showing  no  emotion  until  the  mob 
stopped  the  tumbril  in  the  Eue  St.  Honore  and  danced  before  the 
house  of  the  Duplays  where  he  had  received  such  disinterested  and 
devoted  hospitality  since  1791,  and  where  all  his  affections  were 
centred.  The  eldest  daughter  of  Madame  Duplay,  to  whom  he 
was  betrothed,  wore  mourning  for  him  to  the  day  of  her  death. 

Saint-Just  mounted  the  scaffold  with  the  same  courage  he  showed 
at  Fleurus,  and  Eobespierre  followed  him  with  a  firm  step.  The 
executioner's  servant  rudely  tore  the  bandage  from  his  broken  jaw. 
The  pain  wrung  from  him  a  cry  that  rang  through  the  place ;  after 
which  he  yielded  up  his  head.  With  them  died  Couthon,  young 
Eobespierre,  and  Hanriot,  who  had  been  bound  dying  to  the  tum- 
bril, Dumas,  Payan,  Mayor  Fleuriot-Lescot,  and  others,  —  twenty- 
two  in  all  The  next  day,  July  29,  the  general  council  of  the  com- 
mune were  guillotined  en  masse,  seventy  in  all,  many  of  whom  were 
only  guilty  of  having  gone  to  the  convocation  of  municipal  author- 
ities, without  knowing  what  was  to  be  done  there,  and  then  having 
been  unable  to  withdraw.  The  Eeign  of  Terror  seemed  only  to  have 
changed  hands. 

However  inimical  we  may  be  to  Eobespierre,  we  cannot  but  feel 
that  he  left  a  great  void  in  the  Eevolution.  A  phase  of  history  was 
closed, —  the  phase  of  those  five  marvellous  years  which,  as  he 
said,  were  so  many  centuries,  and  during  which  several  generations 
of  revolutionary  leaders  succeeded  each  other ;  he  alone  remaining 
39 


610  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXI. 

to  the  last,  as  he  was  first  to  appear.  We  cannot  wonder  that  many 
thought  him  the  very  essence  of  the  Revolution,  and  felt  that  it  fell 
with  him. 

If  Saint-Just  had  lived,  there  might  never  have  been  a  Napoleon ; 
he  would  have  tried  to  found  a  Eoman  or  rather  a  Spartan  republic, 
as  Napoleon  tried  to  establish  a  Eoman  empire.  The  one  would 
have  been  as  foreign  as  the  other  to  the  true  genius  of  France  and 
the  tendencies  of  modern  Europe,  and  would  have  failed  as  soon  ! 


1794.]  RESULTS  OF  ROBESPIERRE'S  DEATH.  611 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued}. —  CLOSE  OF  THE  JACOBIN  CLUB. —  CAR- 
EIER'S  TRIAL.  —  THE  MASTERPIECES  OF  THE  CONVENTION  :  THE 
POLYTECHNIC  SCHOOL,  NORMAL  SCHOOL,  CENTRAL  SCHOOLS,  MUSE- 
UMS, AND  THE  INSTITUTE. 

10th  Thermidor,  Tear  XI.,  to  3d  Brumalre,  Year  IV.— 88th  July,  1794,  to  25th 

October,   1795. 

ON  the  morning  of  the  10th  of  Thermidor  all  the  people  who 
lived  near  the  prisons  of  Paris  crowded  on  the  roofs  of  their 
houses  and  cried  to  the  prisoners,  "All  is  over!  Eobespierre  is 
dead ! "  The  thousands  of  prisoners,  who  had  believed  themselves 
doomed  to  death,  imagined  themselves  rescued  from  the  tomb. 
Many  were  set  free  the  same  day,  and  all  the  rest  regained  hope 
and  confidence.  Their  feeling  of  deliverance  was  shared  through- 
out France.  The  Reign  of  Terror  had  become  a  sort  of  nightmare 
that  stifled  the  nation,  and  the  Reign  of  Terror  and  Robespierre 
were  identical  in  the  sight  of  the  great  majority. 

Abroad,  kings  and  aristocrats  rejoiced  from  quite  another  motive. 
They  thought  him  the  mainspring  of  the  Revolution,  and  believed 
that  without  him  it  would  soon  be  dissolved  in  anarchy.  The  ultra- 
terrorists  of  the  Committees  and  Convention  vainly  tried  to  keep 
up  the  Reign  of  Terror,  and  the  only  thing  to  be  dreaded  was  a 
new  one  in  a  reactionary  direction. 

The  Convention  presented  a  strange  aspect.  Party  remnants 
were  united  in  the  coalition  party  called  the  "  Thermidorians." 
Many  of  the  Mountaineers  and  of  those  who  had  been  fiercest  in 
their  missions  presently  took  seats  with  the  Right  or  Centre ;  and 
the  periodic  change  of  Committees,  so  long  contested,  was  deter- 
mined upon.  Lots  were  drawn,  and  Barere,  Lindet,  and  Prieur 


THE   FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXII. 

went  out ;  Carnot,  indispensable  in  the  war,  was  re-elected  until  the 
coming  spring ;  Billaud  and  Collot,  feeling  out  of  place  in  the  new 
order  of  things,  resigned.  Danton's  friends  now  prevailed ;  but, 
alas !  the  Dantonists  were  not  Danton  !  The  fatal  law  of  22d  Prai- 
rial  was  abolished,  and  the  tribunal  resumed  its  pristine  conditions, 
which  were  severe,  indeed,  but  gave  those  accused  some  hope  of 
acquittal.  Many  were  acquitted,  and  a  host  of  persons  imprisoned 
on  suspicion  were  liberated  without  trial.  Fouquier-Tinville  was 
dismissed  from  office  and  himself  indicted.  He  had  hoped  to  es- 
cape by  forsaking  Eobespierre,  but  the  public  clamor  against  him 
was  too  powerful.  The  reaction  went  still  further.  Lecointre,  who 
had  been  foremost  to  drag  down  Eobespierre,  now  denounced  Bil- 
laud, Collot,  Barere,  Vadier,  Amar,  Voulland,  and  David  to  the 
Convention ;  and  the  ultra-terrorists  began  to  see  that,  in  putting 
Eobespierre  to  death,  they  had  drawn  down  ruin  on  themselves. 
The  men  denounced  had  done  fearful  things,  but  reprisals  are  al- 
ways dangerous. 

Alexander  Goujon,  a  young  representative  well  known  to  the 
armies,  though  a  comparative  stranger  to  the  Convention,  protested 
against  "  the  seeds  of  dissension "  cast  into  the  bosom  of  the  As- 
sembly, and  declared  that  the  Convention  was  responsible  for  these 
men,  which  was  but  too  true,  as  it  had  ratified  the  acts  of  the  Com- 
mittees. Cambon  angrily  repeated  the  charge,  with  greater  effect, 
inasmuch  as  he  was  not  a  member  of  either  Committee,  or-  called  on 
to  defend  himself.  Upon  his  motion,  Lecointre's  denunciation  was 
declared  calumnious  (13th  Fructidor,  year  II.,  August  30,  1794). 

The  Jacobins,  who  had  abjured  Eobespierre's  memory  in  self- 
defence,  now  resumed  the, offensive  by  expelling  Lecointre,  Tallien, 
and  Fre"ron ;  but  the  Convention  strove  to  keep  on  good  terms  with 
the  Club,  lest  it  should  excite  the  mob  to  revolt.  A  new  munici- 
pality had  been  chosen  since  Eobespierre's  fall,  and  the  people  had 
no  more  voice  in  it  than  before.  A  club  entirely  foreign  to  the 
Jacobins'  was  formed,  to  control  municipal  elections,  and  to  carry 
out  the  Constitution  of  1793,  —  in  other  words,  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
revolutionary  government  and  the  dictatorship  of  the  Commune. 


1794.]  THE  JACOBIN  CLUB.  613 

The  ruling  spirit  of  the  club  was  a  man  from  St.  Quentin,  named 
Babceuf,  who,  according  to  the  revolutionary  custom  of  assuming 
Greek  or  Eoman  names,  called  himself  Gracchus.  He  was  enthusi- 
astic and  energetic.  For  himself,  he  sought  to  remedy  the  distresses 
of  others.  He  was  no  terrorist,  and  had  never  attacked  the  rights 
of  property,  but  was  so  impolitic  as  to  hold  his  meetings  at  the 
Eveche,  which  made  it  seem  a  continuation  of  that  famous  commit- 
tee so  notorious  for  its  anarchy  and  bloodshed.  But  the  first  peti- 
tion which  he  presented  to  the  Convention  showed  the  difference ; 
it  demanded  a  free  press,  and  liberty  of  the  people  to  choose  their 
own  rulers,  which  was  not  well  received.  Babceuf  accordingly  drew 
up  a  fresh  petition,  claiming  the  popular  right  to  choose  the  general 
council,  municipal  authorities,  and  sectional  committees,  and  the 
suppression  of  all  hindrances  to  commerce  which  revolutionists 
had  hitherto  maintained.  Babceuf  was  forbidden  to  hold  his  meetings 
at  the  Eveche,  and  the  Convention  assumed  the  right  to  nominate 
all  public  officers  (September  28),  thus  extending  the  dictatorship 
beyond  Eobespierre's  limits.  The  Convention  foresaw,  in  Babceuf  s 
undertaking,  tendencies  perilous  to  social  order,  and  was  also 
alarmed  in  another  direction,  fearing  lest  popular  reaction  against 
the  Eeign  of  Terror  should  go  too  far.  Standing  between  the  bour- 
geois reaction  and  Babceuf 's  popular  movement,  it  strove  to  win  the 
Jacobins,  and  even  the  Maratists.  A  part  of  those  who  had  slain 
Eobespierre  —  Freron,  Barras,  and  some  other  of  Eobespierre's 
murderers  —  declared  themselves  Marat's  admirers,  and  caused  his 
body  to  be  taken  to  the  Pantheon,  which  Eobespierre  had  always 
prevented.  The  Convention  dared  not  absent  itself  from  the  hu- 
miliating ceremony,  although  it  revenged  itself  on  the  llth  of 
October  by  burying  Eousseau  in  the  Pantheon  side  by  side  with 
Voltaire.  It  had  no  idea  of  reviving  Maratism,  and  tried  to  steer  a 
middle  course.  Eobert  Lindet  made  a  patriotic  appeal  for  peace 
and  oblivion, "  save  for  certain  crimes,"  in  a  report  to  the  Committee 
of  Public  Welfare.  The  Jacobins,  however,  did  not  second  these 
attempts  at  agreement,  but  ruined  themselves  by  their  bold  pro- 
ceedings at  Paris,  Marseilles,  and  elsewhere,  constantly  hinting  that 


614  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XXII. 

terrorism  was  lurking  in  the  air ;  Representative  Duhem  saying  in 
the  Convention  itself  that,  if  "  the  frogs  of  the  Marais  (the  Centre) 
dared  to  lift  their  heads,  it  would  be  so  much  the  easier  to  chop 
them  off."  On  the  9th  of  October  the  Convention  accepted  an 
address  by  Cambace'res,  condemning  both  Jacobins  and  Babceuf- 
ists.  Babceuf  was  arrested,  his  club  scattered,  and  the  terrorist 
party  was  attacked.  Ninety-four  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  Nantais  sent  to  Paris  in  1793  —  who,  fortunately  for  them,  had 
never  been  tried — were  now  acquitted  and  sent  home  (November  19). 
Long  before  their  acquittal  the  pursuit  of  their  persecutors  began. 
The  revolutionary  committee  of  Nantes,  to  whom  public  opinion 
imputed  so  many  horrors,  were  arrested  in  turn  (October  13),  and 
ordered  to  immediate  trial.  All  correspondence  between  popular 
societies  and  all  collective  petitions  were  forbidden,  which  put  an 
end  to  the  great  Jacobin  association  which  had  so  long  acted 
throughout  France  as  one  man.  The  trial  of  the  Nantes  commit- 
tee and  the  horrid  details  of  the  drownings  stirred  all  Paris.  The 
committee  threw  all  the  blame  upon  Carrier,  and  the  people  rose 
against  him ;  but  the  Jacobins  stubbornly  upheld  him.  The  Con- 
vention having  chosen  a  committee  to  decide  whether  he  should  be 
brought  to  trial,  Billaud  denounced  this  "counter-revolutionary" 
step  at  the  Jacobin  Club.  "Patriots  are  accused  of  keeping  si- 
lence," said  he ;  "  but  the  lion  is  not  dead,  but  sleeping ;  and  when  he 
wakes  he  will  exterminate  his  enemies  "  (November  3).  These  rash 
threats  roused  the  Convention  to  a  storm  against  the  Jacobins. 
All  their  misdeeds  were  rehearsed,  Legendre  crying,  "  A  handful  of 
bloodthirsty  men  constantly  clamor  that  their  lives  are  in  danger ! 
I  call  the  people  to  witness  that  it  is  my  fervent  wish  that  the 
Author  of  nature  might  condemn  them  to  drag  out  their  accursed 
existence  forever!"  A  former  Maratist,  now  a  moderate  and  a 
Thermidorian,  Bentabole  by  name,  followed  Legendre.  "  Since  they 
defy  us,  the  majority  must  take  up  the  challenge.  I  demand  that 
the  Committees  shall  present  measures  to  prevent  any  representa- 
tive from  preaching  revolt  against  the  Convention."  The  order 
was  given  and  the  storm  increased,  most  of  the  newspapers  de- 


1794.]  CLOSE  OF  THE  JACOBIN  CLUB.  615 

nouncing  the  Jacobins.  Freron,  in  his  "  Popular  Orator,"  displayed 
the  same  frenzied  violence  which  he  had  formerly  shown  toward  all 
moderate  opinions,  quite  forgetting  that,  but  a  few  months  before, 
he  had  led  the  terrorists  of  Provence.  He  was  a  strange  being,  and 
perhaps  not  so  bad  as  he  made  himself  out ;  for  he  once  boasted  to 
the  Convention  that  he  had  ordered  eight  hundred  "  Toulon  trai- 
tors "  to  be  shot,  but  afterwards  said  that  he  had  only  executed  the 
two  hundred  and  fifty  condemned  by  a  jury  improvised  from  the 
Jacobins  of  Toulon.  However  this  may  be,  he  was  now  the  leader 
of  the  reactionary  party.  Bands  of  young  men  of  the  middle 
classes,  known  as  Freron's  boys,  had  affrays  every  night  with  the 
Jacobins. 

The  Jacobins  grew  bolder  as  their  enemies  increased.  The  wo- 
men were  even  more  enraged  and  imprudent  than  the  men.  One 
day  they  took  it  into  their  heads  to  hoot  at  the  deputies  who  of- 
fended them  in  the  Convention,  upon  which  "  Freron's  boys " 
attacked  the  Club  and  insulted  the  women,  and  the  uproar  was 
only  quelled  by  armed  force.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Con- 
vention Eeubell  proposed,  in  the  name  of  the  Committees,  that  the 
sessions  of  the  Club  should  be  suspended  for  a  time ;  and  that  night 
the  Jacobins  read  the  Declaration  of  the  Eights  of  Man,  and  an- 
nounced that  they  had  summoned  the  faubourgs  and  central  sections 
of  Paris  to  their  aid.  But  the  faubourgs  and  the  working-classes 
refused  to  lift  a  finger,  forsaking  the  Jacobins  as  they  had  Eobes- 
pierre,  irritated  by  their  opposition  to  Babceuf  and  support  of  Car- 
rier. The  soldiers  protected  the  Jacobins  and  their  women  as  they 
left  the  Club,  and  prevented  fresh  violence;  but  the  Committees 
closed  the  hall  and  sealed  the  doors  that  very  night,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Convention  (22d  Brumaire).  Thus  ended  the  great 
society  which  had  done  so  much  good  and  harm  to  the  Eevolution. 

On  the  21st  Brumaire  the  report  on  Carrier  was  read.  The 
tyrant  of  Nantes  was  allowed  to  defend  himself,  —  a  privilege 
which  had  been  refused  to  both  Dantonists  and  Girondists.  He 
fell  back  upon  the  rigorous  orders  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Welfare,  and  recalled  the  cruelties  committed  by  the  Vendeans,  as 


616  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXII. 

if  one  crime  excused  another.  "  Would  you  have  material  proofs  ! " 
cried  Legendre,  "  bring  the  Loire  to  Paris ;  summon  the  scuttled 
vessels  ;  call  the  corpses  of  the  victims.  There  are  enough  of  them 
there  to  bury  the  living  ! "  The  very  exaggeration  of  these  words 
shows  the  frightful  pitch  to  which  the  popular  imagination  had  been 
excited.  Carrier  was  indicted  (November  23),  and  sent  to  join 
his  accomplices  of  the  Nantes  committee  before  the  revolution- 
ary tribunal.  All  Paris  eagerly  followed  this  trial,  whose  like 
had  never  been  seen.  It  was  as  if  the  authors  of  the  St.  Bartholo- 
mew Massacre  were  brought  to  judgment.  Carrier  persistently  de- 
nied his  guilt.  "  He  knew  nothing  about  it.  He  gave  no  orders ! " 
Goullin,  the  most  active  and  intelligent  of  the  committee,  a  Creole, 
who  might  have  been  a  hero,  and  was  a  monster,  burst  out  angrily : 
"  My  faults  are  my  own,  and,  cost  what  it  will,  I  will  not  be  cow- 
ardly enough  to  throw  them  on  others !  Judged  by  my  deeds, 
I  am  guilty ;  but  my  intentions  will  bear  the  inspection  of  poster- 
ity. As  for  you,  Carrier,  you  are  false  to  your  judges  and  your 
conscience !  You  persist  in  denying  facts !  Imitate  me ;  make 
a  frank  confession  ! "  After  many  quibbles,  Carrier  took  his  advice, 
and  confessed  when  it  was  impossible  to  do  otherwise.  He  was 
condemned  to  death  with  the  two  worst  members  of  the  com- 
mittee. Goullin  and  thirty  others  were  acquitted,  the  jury  melting 
when  one  of  the  accused,  bursting  into  tears,  exclaimed,  "  Goullin 
is  a  good  man ;  he  educated  my  children !  Kill  me,  but  save  him ! " 

On  the  28th  of  December  the  Convention  modified  the  form 
of  the  revolutionary  tribunal  in  accordance  with  a  plan  formed  by 
Merlin  de  Douai,  giving  persons  accused  every  guaranty  demanded 
by  justice  and  humanity.  Carrier's  punishment  relieved  the  public 
conscience,  and  the  closing  of  the  Jacobin  Club  allayed  popular 
fear.  Commerce  revived,  and  the  citizens,  no  longer  dreading 
arrest  on  suspicion,  began  to  form  fresh  enterprises. 

After  Thermidor,  the  Convention  was  ruled  by  one  idea,  namely, 
to  allay  political  passions  and  prepare  a  future  for  the  new  society, 
the  issue  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  Eevolution,  by  a  vast 
array  of  institutions  of  learning.  Science  had  been  summoned 


1794]  INSTITUTIONS  OF  LEARNING.  617 

to  save  the  Bepublic ;  it  was  now  called  to  form  her  youth.  The 
Convention  had  never  ceased  to  work  for  the  future ;  we  have  cited 
ite  great  tasks  in  1793,  —  the  civil  code,  table  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures, the  republican  calendar,  the  museums,  and  the  telegraph. 
But  now  it  had  liberty  to  carry  out  its  plans  and  to  apply  the 
results  of  study  to  education,  which  it  did  with  unparalleled  grand- 
eur. Before  stating  the  fresh  services  required  of  science,  let  us 
recall  some  of  the  marvels  it  had  wrought  in  furnishing  France 
with  arms,  provisions,  and  new  methods  of  warfare. 

The  war  having  interrupted  all  marine  communication,  the  sup* 
ply  of  steel  was  cut  off;  science  created  steeL  Fiance  could  get 
no  saltpetre  from  India;  science  found  a  way  to  extract  twelve 
million  pounds  yearly  from  the  soil  of  France,  The  ordinary 
process  of  preparing  powder  required  months;  science  reduced 
it  to  twelve  hours.  It  ordinarily  took  two  years  to  prepare  leather 
for  army  use ;  science  invented  a  method  of  doing  it  in  a  few  days, 
and  so  on.  Balloons  and  the  telegraph  became  the  instruments 
of  war, — the  telegraph  transmitting  orders  to  the  armies,  and  the 
balloons  being  used  for  purposes  of  observation.  All  this  was  due  to 
the  inspiration  of  necessity,  patriotism,  and  danger,  ft  was  now 
in  question  to  carry  civilization  to  a  higher  point  by  a  vast  organ- 
ization which  should  place  every  man  of  science  and  letters  forever 
at  the  country's  service.  It  was  decided  to  establish  a  Central 
School  of  Public  Works,  upon  a  report  by  Barere  (March  11, 1794); 
bat  the  order  was  not  issued  until  the  28th  of  September,  1794 
"This  school,  afterwards  known  as  the  Polytechnic  School,  was 
based,"  says  the  illustrious  Arago,  "on  the  general  scientific  princi- 
ples equally  necessary  to  civil  and  military  engineers,*'  and  was  in- 
tended to  form  men  skilled  in  peace  and  war;  it  was  the  mother  of 
all  special  schools  for  instruction  in  roads,  bridges,  fortifications,  etc. 
The  course  of  study  was  three  years,  and  the  pupils,  four  hundred 
in  number,  all  day  scholars,  were  admitted  by  public  examinations, 
held  in  the  twenty-two  principal  cities.  Xo  foe  was  then  required, 
the  Bepublic  allowing  each  scholar  twelve  hundred  francs  per 
year, — a  sum  equal  to  twice  as  much  nowadays;  thus  opening 


618  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XXII. 

the  door  to  deserving  poverty.  The  professors  were  chosen  from 
the  greatest  scientists  of  the  day,  and  there  were  branch  schools 
of  mines,  artillery,  fortification,  etc.,  from  this  centre.  Models  and 
collections  of  ancient  arms  and  objects  useful  to  the  history  of  the 
art  of  war  were  gathered  in  the  Military  Museum,  which  still 
exists.  But  the  Convention  was  not  content  with  this ;  the  Poly- 
technic School  was  only  a  school  of  applied  sciences,  and  on  the 
13th  of  October,  1794,  an  order  was  issued  for  a  Normal  School, 
to  form  not  men  of  action,  like  its  sister,  but  masters  to  teach  the 
nation,  after  the  wisest  and  best  methods.  What  the  philosophers 
and  scholars  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  undertaken  to  embody 
in  a  book,  "  The  Encyclopaedia,"  was  made  the  subject  of  practical 
teaching.  It  was  designed  to  make  the  Normal  School  "  the  living 
Encyclopaedia." 

This  school  was  to  have  one  pupil  for  every  twenty  thousand 
inhabitants,  to  be  chosen  by  the  arrondissements,  and  allowed  an 
annual  revenue  of  twelve  hundred  francs,  like  the  Polytechnic. 
The  pupils  must  be  at  least  twenty-one  years  old,  and  were  to  be 
taught  nothing  but  the  art  of  teaching,  being  supposed  to  possess 
the  elements  of  science,  letters,  and  arts  on  their  entrance  to  the 
school.  This  was  very  different  from  the  present  normal  school, 
where  the  pupil  acquires  the  higher  branches  of  knowledge  as 
well  as  the  art  of  teaching.  Among  the  professors  were  the  famous 
Fourier  the  physicist,  the  mystical  philosopher  Saint-Martin,  the 
famous  navigator,  Bougainville,  Lagrange  the  geometrician,  and  the 
celebrated  Laplace,  Berthollet  the  chemist,  Volney  the  historian, 
Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre  the  moralist,  and  many  other  distin- 
guished men.  This  school  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  Museum 
of  Natural  History,  formed  in  June,  1793,  in  conformity  with  a 
report  by  Lakanal  and  the  plan  of  a  gifted  naturalist,  Lamarck, 
who  was,  among  philosopher  naturalists,  a  link  between  Buffon 
and  Saint-Hilaire.  This  museum  had  twelve  professorships,  many 
of  which  were  entirely  new  to  France,  —  mineralogy  and  geology, 
or  the  study  of  the  earth's  constitution  and  formation  ;  comparative 
anatomy,  which  teaches  the  analogies  and  differences  of  organiza- 


1794.]  INSTITUTIONS  OF  LEARNING.  619 

tion  in  living  beings ;  and  zoology,  which  studies  the  laws  of  their 
existence.  Geoffroi  Saint-Hilaire,  a  youth  of  twenty-one,  opened 
the  first  course  of  lectures  in  zoology  at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes, 
May,  1794,  —  a  science  which  he  was  destined  to  develop  on  a 
grand  scale. 

Both  the  Normal  and  Polytechnic  School  and  the  Natural  His- 
tory Museum  published  a  journal  intended  to  keep  the  public  ac- 
quainted with  the  results  of  their  labors. 

Meantime  the  Observatory  was  reorganized  according  to  the 
plans  of  the  astronomer  Lalande,  and  put  in  charge  of  a  committee 
of  scientists  called  the  Bureau  of  Longitude,  and  four  other  obser- 
vatories were  established  in  other  parts  of  France.  The  College  of 
France,  the  only  real  educational  institution  founded  under  the 
old  regime,  had  been  kept  up.  The  Convention  created,  besides, 
a  special  school  of  the  living  Oriental  languages,  for  the  interests 
of  policy  and  commerce.  The  old  Medical  Faculties  had  been  sup- 
pressed by  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  1792.  Official  medical 
instruction  was  restored  by  the  Convention  in  1794,  —  three  schools 
being  opened  with  a  special  view  to  hospital  service,  particularly  in 
military  hospitals.  Three  hundred  young  men  between  the  ages 
of  seventeen  and  twenty-six  were  to  be  sent  to  Paris,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  to  Montpellier,  and  one  hundred  to  Strasburg,  after  ex- 
amination by  the  Board  of  Health.  The  course  of  study  was  three 
years,  and  the  annual  pension  twelve  hundred  francs.  Outsiders 
were  admitted  to  the  lectures  free  ;  and  the  plan  of  study  was  the 
greatest  pursued  in  any  age,  —  the  history  of  medicine,  hygiene, 
medical  physics,  legal  medicine,  animal  chemistry,  and  clinics  being 
taught  for  the  first  time,  witli  a  few  exceptions  for  the  last-named 
branch.  Before  creating  medical  schools,  the  Convention  formed 
a  committee  to  visit  the  hospitals,  to  which  France  owes  the  ces- 
sation of  many  cruel  abuses  prevalent  in  the  hospitals  of  the  old 
regime.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  number  of  foundlings  was 
far  less  during  the  Revolution  than  under  the  old  regime,  or  even 
subsequently  under  the  Empire.  In  May,  1793,  the  Abbe"  Sicard, 
a  professor  of  the  Normal  School,  and  one  of  the  few  priests  who 


620  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXII. 

escaped  the  September  massacres,  was  put  at  the  head  of  a  board 
of  instruction  for  deaf-mutes. 

On  the  28th  of  July,  1795,  the  institution  for  blind  children, 
founded  by  the  learned  Haiiy,  was  officially  authorized  by  the  Con- 
vention. 

Having  done  so  much  for  higher  education,  the  Convention 
formed  intermediate  schools,  in  conformity  with  Lakanal's  report, 
February  25,  1795.  These  schools  were  intended  to  replace  the 
colleges,  where  Latin  was  passably,  Greek  badly,  and  French  not 
at  all,  taught.  The  course  of  study  was  only  four  years ;  but  chil- 
dren under  twelve  were  not  admitted,  and  they  were  supposed  to 
have  learned  the  elementary  branches  at  primary  schools.  The 
course  embraced  Greek,  Latin,  literature,  drawing,  physics,  and 
mathematics,  elementary  notions  of  the  arts  and  industries,  agricul- 
ture and  commerce,  but  not  music,  —  which  surprises  us  when 
we  recall  the  part  played  by  martial  music  in  the  revolutionary 
armies.  Only  day  pupils  were  received,  and  tuition  was  free. 
Cuvier  was  one  of  the  teachers,  —  the  first  naturalist  who  brought 
to  light  the  extinct  races  of  animals  buried  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth. 

The  industrial  and  fine  arts  came  in  for  a  share  of  this  regenera- 
tion, —  a  Conservatory  of  Arts  and  Industries  being  formed  for  the 
collection  of  all  newly  invented  or  perfected  tools  and  machines, 
of  which  the  industrial  exhibitions,  first  held  in  1797,  were  the 
complement,  as  the  exhibitors  of  the  works  of  living  artists  were 
the  complement  of  the  Louvre  Museum.  Heretofore  no  artist 
or  sculptor,  not  a  member  of  the  Academy,  could  receive  an  order 
from  the  government,  or  send  his  work  to  the  Fine  Arts  Exhibition, 
but  henceforth  such  orders  were  to  be  competed  for,  and  all  foreign 
as  well  as  French  artists  were  admitted  to  the  exhibitions ;  a  na- 
tional art  jury  being  formed  of  artists  and  scholars.  Three  hundred 
thousand  francs  were  distributed  in  prizes  for  various  discoveries 
in  arts  and  sciences,  and  double  that  sum  to  artists,  scientists,  and 
authors.  The  first  free  exhibition  of  fine  arts  took  place  in  Septem- 
ber, 1791,  and  occurred  annually  from  1795  to  Napoleon's  con- 


1795.]  INSTITUTIONS  OF  LEAENING.  621 

sulate,  when  they  became  biennial;  the  Louvre  continuing  to 
be  the  place  of  deposit  for  the  pictures  and  statues  taken  from 
palaces  and  churches. 

The  Conservatory  of  Music  was  founded  on  the  3d  of  August, 
1795,  with  six  hundred  scholars,  and  its  library  formed  a  mu- 
seum of  music  ;  and  the  greatest  musicians,  Gretry,  Mehul,  Gossec, 
Lesueur,  and  Cherubini  were  chosen  superintendents  thereof. 

At  the  close  of  1793  the  Convention  formed  a  committee  for 
the  preservation  of  all  objects  or  documents  which  might  be  useful 
to  arts,  science,  history,  or  letters,  which  greatly  increased  the 
National  Library,  and  other  public  libraries  were  opened  in  Paris 
and  the  'departments ;  the  national  archives  being  established  at  the 
Louvre  under  a  special  commission.  Nor  must  we  forget  that  the 
Convention  was  the  first  to  secure  to  authors,  artists,  and  scientists, 
the  ownership  of  their  works.  On  the  recommendation  of  Daunou, 
an  ex-priest  of  the  Oratory  and  a  man  of  great  learning  and  mar- 
vellous breadth  of  mind,  the  Convention  founded  the  Institute, 
which  was  designed  to  reorganize  the  old  academies  on  a  new  plan. 
While  they  had  had  no  bond  of  union  between  them,  the  Institute 
was  as  much  of  a  unit  as  the  mind  of  man  itself.  It  was  divided 
into  sections,  corresponding  with  the  various  branches  of  the  hu- 
man intellect.  It  was  composed  of  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
resident  members,  an  equal  number  of  non-residents,  and  more  than 
twenty-four  foreign  associate  members,  and  was  divided  into  three 
classes :  1st,  physical  sciences  and  mathematics ;  2d,  moral  and 
political  science ;  3d,  literature  and  the  fine  arts.  The  Convention 
chose  one  third  of  the  original  members,  who  chose  the  remaining 
two  thirds.  The  Institute  was  ordered  to  present  an  annual  report 
of  its  labors  to  the  National  Assembly. 

The  laws  relating  to  public  instruction  were  passed  October  25, 
1795  ;  the  only  weak  spot,  unfortunately,  being  the  very  basis 
of  education,  —  primary  instruction.  In  1793,  parents  who  did  not 
send  their  children  to  the  primary  schools  were  fined,  and  on  a 
repetition  of  the  offence  deprived  of  their  rights  of  citizenship  for 
ten  years;  but  this  law  was  afterwards  abolished,  which  was  a 


622  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XXII. 

grave  mistake.  Teachers,  from  that  time  forth,  were  paid  by  their 
pupils  and  lodged  by  the  Republic,  only  one  fourth  of  the  scholars 
in  each  school  being  admitted  gratis.  But  these  errors  should  not 
make  us  forgetful  of  the  Convention's  great  work,  from  the  9th 
Thermidor  to  the  end  of  its  career,  which  no  succeeding  govern- 
ment has  been  able  to  destroy. 


1795.]  THERMIDORIAN  REACTION.  623 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE  CONVENTION  (continued).  —  THERMIDORIAN  REACTION.  —  COUN- 
TER-REVOLUTIONARY MASSACRES  IN  THE  SOUTH.  —  PRAIRIAL  DAYS. 
—  TRIAL  OF  THE  MOUNTAINEERS. 

Nivose  to  normal,  Tear  II.  —  December,  1794,  to  Jane,  1795. 

WE  have  shown  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  intellectual 
creations  of  the  so-called  Thermidorian  period;  later  on, 
we  shall  recount  its  great  military  and  diplomatic  triumphs.  But 
it  also  had  its  dark  side,  the  economic  crisis  of  subsistences  and 
assignats  and  the  crisis  of  political  reaction  uniting  to  produce 
woful  results. 

Ever  since  the  spring  of  1793  the  revolutionary  government  had 
provided  for  its  wants  by  the  maximum,  or  taxation  on  supplies 
and  issue  of  assignats  and  requisitions.  But  even  at  the  height 
of  the  Reign  of  Terror  the  merchants  and  country  people  had 
resisted  the  maximum  at  the  risk  of  their  lives,  and  the  assignats 
were  much  depreciated  even  before  counterfeit  ones  were  put  in 
circulation,  owing  to  foreign  and  counter-revolutionary  intrigues  and 
the  firm  popular  preference  for  hard  money.  If  the  maximum 
could  not  be  carried  out  during  the  Reign  of  Terror,  how  could 
it  be  maintained  now  that  the  reins  of  power  were  slackened  ?  It 
was  abolished  on  the  23d  of  December,  1794,  which  caused  a  great 
depreciation  of  paper-money,  and  the  government,  forced  to  manu- 
facture more  assignats  to  cover  their  loss  of  value,  hastened  their 
ruin  by  the  excess  of  their  issues,  twelve  billions  being  in  circulation 
during  the  month  of  July,  1795  (Thermidor,  year  III.).  Specula- 
tion knew  no  bounds,  the  debasement  of  paper-money  causing  vast 
abuses,  from  which  the  state  as  well  as  individuals  suffered,  being 


624  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XXIII. 

obliged  to  take  assignats  at  par  for  the  payment  of  national  debts. 
Vast  fortunes  were  made,  but  the  mass  of  the  people  were  impover- 
ished. The  farmers  ceased  to  send  wheat  to  Paris,  partly  wishing 
to  speculate  on  its  increased  value,  partly  fearing  to  be  robbed  or 
forced  to  sell  at  a  low  price.  The  people  laid  all  this  to  the  com- 
missary of  supplies  in  the  Assembly,  the  best  known  of  whom, 
Boissi-d'Anglas,  received  the  nickname  of  Boissi-famine,  though 
he  was  not  to  blame,  for  he  and  the  Committee  did  their  best  to 
buy  grain  ;  but  they  could  not  supply  the  loss  of  free  trade. 

While  the  people  were  becoming  embittered  against  the  Conven- 
tion, reaction  among  the  bourgeoisie  grew  fierce  against  the  Jacobins 
and  terrorists,  whom  they  fancied  to  be  continually  lying  in  wait  to 
conspire  and  rise  in  insurrection.  A  commission  of  twenty-one  was 
formed  to  examine  into  the  conduct  of  ex-members  of  the  Commit- 
tees of  Public  Welfare  and  General  Safety  (December  26,  1794). 

The  reactionary  young  men,  "  Freron's  boys,"  had  the  upper  hand 
in  Paris,  now  that  the  Jacobin  Club  was  closed.  Towards  the  be- 
ginning of  February,  1795,  they  threw  down  Marat's  bust  in  the 
various  theatres.  A  band  of  children  dragged  one  of  these  busts 
through  the  streets,  and  flung  it  into  a  sewer.  Not  five  months 
before,  Marat's  remains  were  borne  in  triumph  to  the  Pantheon ! 
But  the  anti-Jacobin  youth  wTere  still  far  from  declaring  themselves 
anti-revolutionary.  They  replaced  Marat's  bust  at  the  Theatre 
Feydeau  by  that  of  Rousseau,  and  declared,  in  an  address  to  the 
faubourgs,  "  We  are  still  your  brothers-in-arms  of  the  14th  of  July 
and  10th  of  August." 

On  the  2d  of  March,  1795,  the  commission  of  twenty-one  pre- 
sented its  report,  and  indicted  Billaud,  Collot,  Barere,  and  Yadier, 
that  is,  the  ultra-revolutionary  faction  of  the  Committee  that,  after 
urging  on  Danton's  death,  had  contributed  so  much  to  the  fall  of 
Robespierre.  The  Thermidorians  were  beginning  to  devour  each 
other.  For  Fouche,  Tallien,  Barras,  and  Freron  to  stigmatize  the 
former  members  of  the  Committees  as  terrorists  was  the  height  of 
audacity!  The  preliminary  arrest  of  the  four  men  accused  was 
voted  by  a  large  majority.  While  the  leaders  of  the  Reign  of  Ter- 


1795.]  THERMIDORIAN  REACTION.  625 

ror  were  being  hunted  down,  the  doors  of  the  Convention  were  re- 
opened to  the  Girondists.  Seventy-three  representatives,  held  on 
suspicion  of  protest  against  the  31st  of  May,  among  whom  was 
Daunou,  were  restored  to  office.  On  the  8th  of  March  Marie 
Joseph  Che'nier,  the  Mountaineer,  caused  the  recall  of  twenty-two 
Girondists,  who  had  played  a  more  active  part  than  these  seventy- 
three,  and  been  accordingly  outlawed,  among  whom  were  Lanjui- 
nais,  Louvet,  and  Isnard.  The  31st  of  May  and  2d  of  June  were 
openly  attacked  in  the  Convention ;  and  Sie'yes,  breaking  his  long 
silence,  reviewed  those  fatal  days,  dubbing  those  who  glorified  them 
seditious  madmen ;  while  Che'nier  openly  declared  that  the  feder- 
alism which  was  made  a  pretext  to  proscribe  the  Girondists  was 
utterly  imaginary.  The  order  for  the  annual  celebration  of  the  31st 
of  May  was  repealed ;  and  the  Convention  soon  after  distributed 
three  thousand  copies  of  Condorcet's  posthumous  work,  "  A  Sketch 
for  a  Historic  Picture  of  the  Mind  of  Man,"  among  the  various 
libraries  and  educational  institutions. 

The  recall  of  the  few  remaining  Girondists  was  certainly  just ; 
but  they  unfortunately  returned,  filled  with  a  spirit  of  resentment, 
which  too  often  led  them  to  misconceive  the  true  interests  of  the 
Republic.  Some  even,  embittered  by  their  sufferings,  were  no  longer 
republicans ;  while  others  became  energetic  defenders  of  the  Revo- 
lution. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  II.  Paris  offered  a  strange  contrast  be- 
tween the  luxury  of  the  few  and  the  misery  of  the  many,  which 
drove  the  people  to  despair.  On  the  17th  of  March  a  crowd  re- 
paired to  the  Convention  to  clamor  for  bread.  Two  days  later 
Lecointre,  that  bitter  enemy  of  Robespierre,  who  had  been  the  first 
to  insist  that  the  terrorists  of  the  Committees  should  be  indicted, 
suddenly  turned  against  the  reaction,  and  proposed  that  the  Consti- 
tution of  1793  should  be  enforced,  that  is,  that  they  should  abandon 
revolutionary  government  and  return  to  a  democracy.  The  peo- 
ple of  Paris  eagerly  embraced  this  idea,  which  was  shared  by  the 
Jacobins,  and,  on  the  21st  of  March,  sent  to  the  Convention 
to  demand  bread  and  the  Constitution  of  1793.  The  motion  fell 
40 


626  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XXIII. 

through,  and  Sieyes  obtained  the  passage  of  a  rigorous  law  to 
punish  mobs  with  transportation.  The  next  day  (March  22)  the 
report  on  the  indictment  of  the  four  Committee  members  accused 
came  up,  having  been  framed  by  one  of  the  seventy-three  deputies 
formerly  imprisoned.  Lindet  defended  the  accused  in  a  noble 
speech,  recalling  all  the  services  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Wel- 
fare, and  showing  that  the  Convention  could  not  condemn  the  Com- 
mittees without  condemning  itself.  Carnot  spoke  in  the  same  vein, 
complaining  that  the  accused  were  treated  as  if  condemned  in  ad- 
vance, and  conjuring  the  Convention  not  to  begin  anew  to  mutilate 
itself.  Several  sessions  followed,  taken  up  with  mutual  reproaches 
from  Girondists  and  Mountaineers,  and  Paris  was  stirred  to  its 
depths.  The  session  of  April  1st  opened  with  a  scene  of  violence, 
the  ultra-revolutionists  provoking  the  majority  by  threats  and 
insults,  one  Jacobin  deputy,  Bourgeois  by  name,  even  accusing 
the  present  Committees  of  conspiring  to  create  a  famine,  in  order 
to  effect  a  counter-revolution.  Immediately  after,  the  hall  was  in- 
vaded by  a  mob  of  men,  women,  and  children,  crying,  "Bread, 
bread ! "  They  were  unarmed,  and  did  not  assume  a  hostile  atti- 
tude. Some  wore  inscriptions  on  their  caps,  — "  Bread  and  the 
Constitution  of  1793!"  Huguet,  the  Mountain  deputy,  undertook 
to  be  their  spokesman,  saying  that  his  dearest  wish  was  to  see  the 
incarcerated  patriots  set  free,  and  the  Constitution  of  1793  enforced. 
One  of  the  rabble  echoed  his  words,  declaring  that  the  men  of  May 
31st  were  confronting  the  Assembly.  The  extreme  Left  applauded. 

This  was  not,  however,  a  new  31st  of  May.  The  invasion  of  the 
Assembly  was  the  result  of  no  plot.  It  lasted  for  hours,  and  no 
act  of  violence  was  committed.  At  last  the  national  guard  of  those 
sections  ruled  by  bourgeoisie  came  to  the  Convention's  aid,  and  the 
crowd  dispersed  quietly. 

The  wrath  of  the  Convention  was  redoubled  by  a  report  that  two 
of  its  members  had  been  killed  while  endeavoring  to  disperse  the 
mob  in  Paris.  The  story  was  false ;  but  the  majority  believed  it, 
and  ordered  the  arrest  of  several  Jacobin  deputies  for  their  impru- 
dent words  and  applause  of  the  mob,  eight  of  them  being  sent  to  the 


1795.]  THERMIDORIAN   REACTION.  627 

Chateau  de  Ham.  It  did  still  worse :  on  the  motion  of  Dumont  the 
terrorist,  it  ordered  Billaud,  Collot,  Barere,  and  Yadier  to  be  trans- 
ported at  once,  and  without  trial.  There  was  an  attempt  to  stop 
their  carriages  at  the.  barrier,  but  General  Pichegru  put  down  the 
movement  by  armed  force.  Arrest  followed  arrest.  The  Girondists 
thought  the  2d  of  June,  if  not  the  2d  of  September,  had  come 
again.  Their  excitement  was  excusable,  but  the  terrorists  of  the 
Thermidorian  party  outdid  them  in  violence.  The  session  of  April 
5th  was  something  senseless  and  lamentable.  At  Tallien's  sugges- 
tion, eight  more  representatives  were  arrested,  among  them  Thuriot, 
president  of  the  Assembly  of  Thermidor  9 ;  Lecointre  and  Cambon, 
whose  only  crime  was  their  opposition  to  the  arbitrary  measures  of 
former  committees.  Cambon  hid  himself  until  the  reaction  was 
over.  This  honest  director  of  finance  went  into  office  with  six 
thousand  livres  of  income;  he  came  out  with  three  thousand. 

Eeactionists  with  republican  sentiments  began  to  see  that  they 
were  working  for  counter-revolution ;  they  heard  that  mobs  at 
Rouen  and  Amiens  had  cried,  "  Long  live  the  king ! " 

At  the  unfortunate  session  of  April  5th  Louvet  had  vainly  tried  to 
prevent  the  arrest  of  the  deputies.  He  himself  had  escaped  the  fate 
of  his  friends,  Buzot,  Petion,  and  Barbaroux,  by  concealment,  —  first 
in  Paris,  and  afterwards  in  the  woods  and  caves  of  the  Jura,  with 
his  devoted  young  wife.  The  next  day  Freron  proposed  to  change 
the  penalty  for  revolutionary  crimes  from  death  to  transportation, 
reserving  death  for  counter-revolutionary  criminals,  in  the  hope  of 
preventing  the  Convention  from  decimating  itself  anew.  Had  his 
plan  been  adopted,  how  many  noble  lives  might  have  been  saved ! 
Unhappily  it  was  referred  to  the  Committees,  and  proved  abortive. 
At  this  moment  a  great  trial  began  in  Paris,  which  revived  the  ex- 
citement of  that  of  Carrier  and  his  accomplices.  The  new  revolu- 
tionary tribunal  brought  the  old  one  to  judgment.  The  public 
prosecutor,  Fouquier-Tinville,  the  president,  Hermann,  the  vice- 
president,  judges,  and  jurors,  and  the  chief  of  the  police-bureau, 
Lanne,  were  summoned  to  answer  for  all  their  violations  of  justice 
and  humanity.  They  were  allowed  the  liberty  of  defence,  which 


628  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XXIII. 

they  had  denied  their  victims.  It  must  be  said  for  the  new  tribunal 
that  it  was  just.  After  forty  days'  session,  Fouquier-Tinville,  Her- 
mann, Lanne,  and  thirteen  others  were  sentenced  to  death.  Thir- 
teen were  acquitted,  although  convicted  of  complicity  with  the  pre- 
ceding, since  they  had  not  acted  with  evil  intent.  Two  were  fully 
acquitted,  one  being  Eobespierre's  landlord,  Duplay,  —  a  man  so 
honest  that  the  tribunal,  equitable  as  it  was,  did  not  wish  a  shadow 
to  rest  on  his  name.  His  wife,  the  adopted  mother  of  Eobespierre, 
having  been  arrested  on  the  9th  Thermidor,  was  found  dead  in  her 
dungeon.  It  was  not  known  whether  she  had  committed  suicide,  or 
been  strangled  by  a  band  of  frenzied  women  that  had  invaded  the 
prison. 

Tinville  and  his  friends  were  guillotined,  May  7,  on  the  Place 
de  Greve.  While  these  tools  of  the  Eeign  of  Terror  perished,  the 
leaders,  Billaud  and  Collot,  were  despatched  to  Cayenne.  Vadier 
had  escaped.  Barere,  sick  or  feigning  to  be  so,  was  left  behind,  es- 
caped, and  afterwards  fled  and  concealed  himself  until  the  reaction 
was  over.  Collot  d'Herbois  soon  met  his  death  by  an  accident. 
Billaud-Varennes  lived  for  many  years  in  America  in  poverty,  show- 
ing a  dignity  and  mildness  in  his  exile  which  contrasted  singularly 
with  his  guilty  past.  In  his  old  age  he  expressed  equal  repentance 
for  the  death  of  Eobespierre  and  Danton ;  but  he  never  repented 
the  Eeign  of  Terror,  repeating  with  his  last  breath  the  words  put 
into  Sylla's  mouth  by  Montesquieu :  "  Posterity  will  accuse  me  of 
having  been  too  sparing  of  the  blood  of  the  tyrants  of  Europe ! " 

By  April,  1795,  the  Thermidorian  reaction  had  resulted  in  three 
classes  of  events  :  — 

1.  The  transportation  of  a  few  ex-members  of  committees  and  the 
arrest  of  twenty  deputies. 

2.  Legal  sentence  of  terrorists,  after  regular  trial. 

3.  Trifling  brawls  in  the  street  and  theatre. 

The  consequences  were  much  worse  in  the  departments.  April 
10  an  order  was  issued  for  the  disarmament  "  of  the  accomplices  of 
the  tyranny  overthrown  Thermidor  9."  The  vagueness  of  this 
decree  made  it  dangerous,  and  it  was  abused  in  many  places,  pa- 


1795.]          COUXTER-REVOLUTIOXARY  MASSACRES.  629 

triots  being  disarmed  and  counter-revolutionists  allowed  to  enter  the 
national  guard,  contributing,  at  least  in  the  South,  to  replace  Jaco- 
bin terror  by  a  terror  seemingly  reactionary,  but  really  royalistic. 
We  shall  speak  of  Brittany  and  La  Vendee  later  on.  The  Conven- 
tion, with  laudable  intent  to  pacify  those  unhappy  districts,  em- 
ployed rash  means,  and  by  an  excess  of  indulgence  revived  "  Chouan- 
nerie,"  as  the  terrorists  once  roused  La  Vendee  by  excessive  rigor. 
At  present,  we  shall  speak  only  of  the  Southeast  which,  in  the 
spring,  became  the  scene  of  frightful  disorder.  After  the  9th  of 
Thermidor,  the  emigrants  and  refractory  priests  had  returned  by 
degrees  to  Lyons,  the  country  of  the  Ehone,  and  Provence,  where 
they  passed  themselves  off  for  "  downtrodden  patriots,"  and  stirred 
up  to  revenge  all  who  had  suffered  by  the  Reign  of  Terror.  Bands 
were  organized  at  Lyons  and  elsewhere  to  work  for  this  counter- 
terror,  taking  the  name  of  "  Companies  of  Jesus  "  or  "  Companies  of 
the  sun,"  the  second  of  which  titles  was  an  allusion  to  a  royalist 
symbol,  Louis  XIV.'s  device,  while  the  other,  in  profaning  Christ's 
name,  showed  that  it  sprang  from  religious  fanaticism.  The  coun- 
ter-Eevolution,  not  having  the  scaffold  at  its  disposal,  resolved  to 
resort  to  the  knife,  and  prepared  for  a  royalist  September  2d,  or 
rather  a  new  St.  Bartholomew  Massacre,  beginning  with  the  Fernex 
affair.  Fernex  was  a  silk-weaver,  a  sincere  fanatic,  and  a  member 
of  the  notorious  Commission  of  Five  at  Lyons,  being  one  of  the  two 
who  always  condemned  the  accused.  He  was  tried  and  acquitted 
by  the  new  tribunal  at  Lyons.  As  he  left  the  court  the  mob  set 
upon  him,  mangled  him,  and  threw  him  dying  into  the  Ehone. 
This  was  the  signal  for  vengeance  to  begin  her  work.  Proscription- 
lists  were  made  out  against  the  Jacobins,  murders  increased,  men, 
women,  and  children  were  shot,  stabbed,  or  beaten  to  death  in  the 
street  and  on  their  own  thresholds.  Erelong  the  pretext  of  ven- 
geance for  the  butcheries  of  the  Eeign  of  Terror  was  thrown  aside, 
and  every  good  republican  was  menaced  with  death.  The  Con- 
vention was  deeply  stirred,  and  on  a  report  by  Che'nier,  rehearsing 
the  Lyons  horrors,  ordered  all  returned  emigrants  to  be  brought  to 
trial,  and  allowed  refractory  priests  one  month  in  which  to  leave 


630  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XXIII. 

French  territory  ;  that  time  passed,  they  were  to  be  treated  like  the 
emigrants  (May  1).  To  this  order  the  counter-revolutionists  of 
Lyons  made  a  fearful  response.  On  the  5th  of  May  three  hundred 
"  Comrades  of  Jesus  and  the  Sun,"  on  leaving  the  theatre,  attacked 
the  three  prisons  containing  Jacobins  accused  of  excesses  during 
the  Eeign  of  Terror.  In  one  of  them  the  prisoners  made  a  brave 
defence,  killing  several  of  their  assailants,  who  at  once  set  fire  to 
the  building.  Twenty-six  persons  perished  in  the  flames,  six  of 
whom  were  women.  Some  few  of  the  assassins  were  taken  before 
the  courts  at  Koanne  and  acquitted,  returning  to  Lyons  in  triumph : 
fashionable  women  strewed  flowers  before  them,  and  they  were 
crowned  at  the  theatre.  This  example  was  followed  all  along  the 
Ehone,  and  the  rule  of  the  dagger  succeeded  that  of  the  guillotine. 
The  representatives  sent  on  missions  since  Thermidor  were  either 
weak  men  or  fierce  reactionists,  whose  only  idea  was  to  pursue  the 
Jacobins,  not  seeing  that  danger  no  longer  lay  that  way. 

When  the  trial  of  the  Jacobins  of  Marseilles,  for  sedition,  came 
on  at  Aix,  the  Marseilles  "  Comrades  of  the  Sun  "  went  armed  to 
the  tribunal,  and  Eepresentative  Chambon  taking  no  precautionary 
measures  against  them,  they  forced  the  prison,  set  fire  to  it,  and 
killed  seventy-three  prisoners,  including  three  women  (May  11). 
No  notice  was  taken  of  these  crimes,  and  they  were  repeated  at 
Tarascon  fifteen  days  later,  all  Provence  soon  becoming  a  scene  of 
carnage,  —  representatives  and  reactionist  authorities  everywhere 
arresting  revolutionists  who  had  taken  part  in  the  Terror,  and  the 
bands  of  "  Jesus  "  and  the  "  Sun  "  contrived  their  death  under  pre- 
text that  the  course  of  justice  was  too  slow.  But  when  the  turn  of 
the  Marseilles  prisoners  came,  a  contrary  movement  broke  out  at 
Toulon.  After  the  recapture  of  that  city  the  arsenal  was  reorgan- 
ized, and  workmen  were  set  to  repairing  the  ships  ;  all  these  work- 
men were  republican  and  Mountaineers.  On  hearing  that  the  white 
cockade  had  been  seen  abroad,  they  rose  in  a  body,  took  possession 
of  the  arsenal,  forced  the  representatives  to  free  the  "  imprisoned 
patriots,"  and  tried  to  force  them  to  lead  the  way  to  Marseilles. 
Brunei  blew  out  his  brains  in  despair  at  his  inability  to  stop  this 


1795.]         COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY  MASSACRES.  631 

revolt,  and  two  other  representatives  escaped.  The  workmen  mean- 
while set  forth  to  free  "  the  patriots  of  Marseilles."  Isnard,  a  man 
of  violent  prejudices,  and  three  other  representatives  marched  to 
meet  them  with  the  troops  of  the  line,  cavalry,  and  national  guard. 
They  were  easily  routed,  many  being  killed  or  taken  prisoners.  The 
consequences  were  unfortunate  for  Toulon  and  awful  for  Marseilles, 
sailors  and  workmen  deserting  the  former  city  to  escape  the  military 
commission  Isnard  established  there,  and  the  "  Comrades  of  Jesus  " 
at  Marseilles  being  free  to  work  their  wicked  will.  The  Jacobin 
prisoners  were  confined  in  Fort  St.  Jean,  at  the  mouth  of  the  har- 
bor, and  nothing  would  have  been  easier  than  to  prevent  the  entry  of 
the  assassins ;  but  the  authorities,  who  treated  their  prisoners  very 
harshly,  did  not  choose  to  defend  the  fort,  and  many  were  killed. 
At  that  moment  representatives  Isnard  and  Chambon  reached  Tou- 
lon. Their  colleague,  Cadroi,  went  gayly  "  to  meet  them,  as  if  all 
were  tranquil.  They  proceeded  to  the  fort  and  ordered  the  massacre 
to  cease ;  but  the  murderers  cried  out  that  they  were  only  avenging 
their  relations  and  friends,  adding :  '  It  was  yon  yourselves  that 
stirred  us  up  to  it !' "  The  military  escort  arrested  fifteen,  but  Cadroi 
ordered  them  to  be  set  free.  He  was  afterwards  accused  of  frater- 
nizing with  the  "  Comrades  of  the  Sun,"  and  was  not  only  a  reac- 
tionist, but  a  counter-revolutionist  in  disguise. 

Nearly  two  hundred  people  perished,  and  not  an  arrest  was 
issued ;  no  one  daring  to  testify  against  the  assassins,  though  the 
representatives  were  well  acquainted  with  them,  Chambon  having 
supplied  them  with  arms  previous  to  the  massacre  at  Fort  St.  Jean. 

From  Lyons  and  the  mouth  of  the  Ehone  the  new  St.  Bartholo- 
mew spread  to  Vaucluse,  La  Drome,  Le  Gard,  and  the  Loire,  in  the 
northeast  to  the  Jura  and  the  Ain.  The  department  of  the  Loire 
•was  in  a  frightful  state  of  anarchy :  the  workmen  in  the  arsenal 
at  St.  Fjtienne  fled,  leaving  it  to  the  counter-revolutionists ;  country 
patriots  left  their  harvests  and  hid  in  the  woods,  priests  were  killed, 
and  the  partisans  of  the  Gironde  took  their  turn,  one  of  the  jurors 
who  had  just  condemned  Fouquier-Tinville  being  slain  on  his 
return  from  Paris.  There  was  a  mixture  of  cold  cruelty  and  de- 


632  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XXIII. 

pravity  in  this  counter-terror  more  detestable  than  the  brutal 
ferocity  of  the  "  sans-culottes  "  terrorists ;  the  chief  element  being 
formed  of  profligate  youths  who  had  escaped  the  draft.  At  Paris 
the  "  muscadins,"  or  dandies,  with  their  affectation  of  dress  and 
manners  in  the  worst  possible  taste,  in  opposition  to  the  "  sans- 
culottes" coarseness,  were  simply  ridiculous,  while  in  the  South 
they  were  atrocious.  Fresh  from  the  slaughter  in  the  prisons,  they 
went  at  night  to  their  clubs  powdered  and  perfumed,  to  display 
to  the  women  their  blood-stained  hands,  and  were  applauded  by  the 
leaders  of  fashion,  the  "  merveilleuses,"  who  had  replaced  the  furies  of 
the  guillotine.  Contemporary  writers  compute  the  number  of  vic- 
tims of  the  revolutionary  terror  at  several  thousands ;  that  of  the 
victims  of  the  reactionary  terror  remains  unknown. 

The  state  of  affairs  in  Paris  meanwhile  was  growing  worse  from 
day  to  day ;  poverty  was  on  the  increase,  spreading  from  working- 
men  to  public  officers,  small  tenants,  and  proprietors,  whose  salaries 
or  rents  were  paid  in  depreciated  assignats.  The  contrast  grew  con- 
tinually sharper  between  the  misery  of  the  multitude  and  the  wealth 
of  stock-jobbers  and  contractors,  nor  could  the  Committees  remedy 
the  general  distress.  They  reopened  the  Exchange  April  24,  1795, 
which  did  not  prevent  fraudulent  transactions,  and  at  the  same  time 
repealed  the  law  forbidding  traffic  in  gold  and  silver,  which  only 
hastened  the  fall  of  the  assignats.  The  Convention  refused  the  first 
proposal  to  reduce  the  legal  value  of  assignats,  thinking  it  would 
show  a  want  of  faith  in  the  people.  Their  condition  was  equally 
bad,  whether  they  reduced  the  value  relatively  to  gold  and  silver  or 
kept  them  at  par.  The  scarcity  of  provisions  enraged  the  poor  all 
the  more  that  the  harvest  had  been  good ;  speculation  and  lack  of 
regular  commerce  alone  causing  this  evil,  to  which  foreign  agents 
and  emigrants  contributed  by  dissuading  farmers  from  sending  their 
grain  to  Paris  and  by  exciting  the  rural  districts  to  stop  all  supplies 
intended  for  the  capital.  An  order  issued  March  15  decreed  that 
the  Paris  workman  should  receive  a  pound  and  a  half  of  bread 
per  day,  which  had  not  been  duly  observed,  and  it  was  this  which 
led  the  women  to  intrude  upon  the  Convention,  March  27.  Peo- 


1795.]  COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY  MASSACRES.  633 

pie  lost  confidence  in  governmental  good-will,  and  charges  against 
the  Committees  came  from  opposite  points :  from  ultra  persons  like 
Babceuf,  whose  journal  was  becoming  more  and  more  aggressive, 
and  from  royalist  agents,  who,  disguised  as  Jacobins,  spread  a  report 
that  bread  would  be  plenty  if  France  had  a  king  (May  18),  but  two 
ounces  of  bread  each  were  given  out,  and  next  day  even  less ;  no 
supplies  having  arrived  of  flour,  wood,  or  charcoal  May  20,  the 
tocsin  sounded,  the  people  crowded  together  and  demanded  bread 
from  the  sectional  committees ;  but  there  was  no  bread ;  then  the 
cry  was  raised,  "  To  the  Convention ! "  and  placards  were  posted 
about  the  streets,  headed,  "  Respect  the  rights  of  property ! "  fol- 
lowed by  "Popular  insurrection  to  obtain  bread  and  justice!." 
All  the  public  misery  and  Southern  massacres  were  charged  to  the 
government,  and  an  order  was  issued  in  the  people's  name  that  the 
inhabitants  of  the  sections,  both  men  and  women,  should  go  to  the 
Convention  in  "fraternal  disorder"  and  prevent  the  people  from 
being  longer  led  "  like  dumb  beasts  by  venal  chiefs,  who  betrayed 
them,"  —  to  demand  bread,  the  abolition  of  the  revolutionary  gov- 
ernment, the  immediate  establishment  of  the  democratic  constitu- 
tion of  1793,  the  arrest  of  all  members  of  the  present  Committees, 
freedom  for  all  citizens  imprisoned  for  asking  bread  and  openly 
expressing  their  opinions,  the  convocation  of  primary  assemblies 
on  the  25th  of  Prairial  to  elect  new  officers,  and  the  convocation 
of  a  legislative  assembly  on  the  25th  of  Messidor  to  replace  the 
Convention.  '•'  The  respect  due  to  the  majesty  of  the  people  should 
be  preserved  towards  its  representatives " ;  but  all  governmental 
agents  who  did  not  at  once  resign  must  be  punished. 

The  Committees  summoned  the  national  guard  to  their  defence ; 
but  the  troops  were  slow  to  gather.  The  Assembly  opened  at 
eleven,  and  a  deputy  read  aloud  the  placard  which  he  called  the  plan 
of  revolt;  some  of  the  members  received  it  with  angry  murmurs. 
One  deputy  exclaimed,  "  The  Convention  will  die  at  its  post ! "  and 
the  whole  assembly  rose  to  their  feet,  swearing  to  carry  out  this 
pledge.  The  leaders  of  the  mob  were  declared  outlaws,  and  a 
proclamation  was  issued  to  the  people.  But  the  rabble  had  already 


634  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XXIII. 

forced  the  doors,  and  a  prolonged  scene  of  riot  began ;  whenever  the 
president  or  one  of  the  deputies  tried  to  speak,  the  women  inter- 
rupted with  a  cry  of  "  Bread,  bread,  bread ! "  and  a  few  men  shouted, 
from  time  to  time,  "The  Constitution  of  1793!"  The  national 
guard  vainly  tried  to  repulse  them,  but  no  blood  was  spilt,  neither 
party  using  arms.  The  struggle  was  fierce,  and  at  last  a  young  dep- 
uty named  Fe'raud  cried  out  to  the  mob :  "  You  shall  enter  only  over 
my  body !  "  and  stretched  himself  across  the  threshold  of  the  hall. 

The  crowd  passed  over  him;  he  rose  and  reached  the  speaker's 
desk  just  as  they  aimed  their  guns  at  the  president.  He  tried 
to  cover  his  chief  with  his  own  body,  but  fell  pierced  by  a  pistol 
ball.  Some  shouted,  "  It  is  Fe'raud ! "  The  people  mistook  the 
word  for  "  Freron,"  and  at  the  sound  of  that  detested  name,  they 
seized  the  wretched  man,  dragged  him  through  the  streets,  cut  off 
his  head  and  carried  it  in  triumph  on  the  end  of  a  pike.  The  mob 
remained  masters  of  the  hall ;  deputies  of  both  sides  were  insulted 
and  abused ;  but  Feraud's  death  remained  a  frightful  accident,  and 
not  the  signal  for  massacre,  the  only  object  being  to  force  the  Con- 
vention to  yield  to  the  desired  measures.  The  tumult  lasted  for 
hours ;  a  large  body  of  the  national  guard  gathered  at  the  Tuileries, 
but  received  no  orders,  and  the  Committees  did  nothing,  proving 
strangely  weak  on  this  eventful  day.  Some  of  the  Mountain  depu- 
ties tried  to  appease  the  mob,  but  no  one  would  listen.  New  crowds 
rushed  in  with  a  bloody  head  on  a  pike.  The  president,  Boissi- 
d'Anglas,  had  just  sent  an  officer  with  a  written  order  in  search 
of  help,  and  supposing  this  to  be  his  messenger,  saluted  it  in  silence 
as  the  relic  of  a  victim  to  duty.  It  was  indeed  a  victim  to  duty, 
for  it  was  the  head  of  Feraud.  Towards  night  the  mob  became 
calmer,  and  began  to  express  their  desires  in  due  form.  This  was 
the  critical  moment.  Refusal  would  provoke  violence.  But  few 
of  the  members  were  present,  most  of  the  Right  and  Centre  having 
escaped  before  the  height  of  the  crisis.  The  president,  utterly  ex- 
hausted, gave  up  his  seat  to  Vernier,  an  old  deputy  of  the  Eight. 
The  Mountain  deputies  decided  the  day,  urged  on  by  the  remnant 
of  the  Eight.  Eomme  and  Duroi  requested  the  president  to  put 


1795.]        COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY  MASSACRES.  635 

it  to  vote  whether  the  imprisoned  deputies  and  patriots  arrested 
since  the  9th  of  Thermidor,  and  against  whom  there  was  no  indict- 
ment, should  be  set  free ;  it  was  accordingly  put  to  vote  and  carried. 
Duroi  then  won  an  order  to  restore  arms  to  "  citizens  disarmed  for 
pretended  terrorism,"  and  Eomme  an  order  for  "  domiciliary  visits  in 
search  of  flour  (this  was  only  to  satisfy  the  rabble),  and  for  the  con- 
vocation and  firm  establishment  of  the  sections,  and  the  election 
of  sectional  committees  by  the  people."  Alexandre  Goujon  said 
that  no  one  knew  what  had  become  of  the  governmental  commit- 
tees, and  demanded  their  renewal  and  the  nomination  of  a  special 
commission  to  carry  out  the  orders  just  issued.  Bourbotte  called 
for  the  arrest  of  counter-revolutionary  journalists,  who  were  con- 
spiring to  murder  patriots  and  poison  the  public  mind,  adding  that 
to  complete  the  day's  work  the  death-penalty  must  be  abolished ; 
which  was  accordingly  done,  except  in  the  case  of  emigrants  and 
forgers  of  assignats.  This  measure  shows  how  far  the  Mountain 
deputies  were  from  wishing  to  renew  the  Reign  of  Terror. 

It  was  midnight ;  four  deputies,  Bourbotte  and  Duroi  among 
them,  set  out  to  replace  the  Committee  of  General  Safety,  and  were 
met  by  Legendre  of  that  Committee  and  other  Thermidorian  depu- 
ties at  the  head  of  the  battalion  of  the  Butte  des  Moulins.  The 
struggle  was  renewed:  the  president  ordered  the  mob  to  retire; 
they  resisted  and  drove  back  the  first  column  of  the  national  guard, 
but  fresh  troops  came  up  and  charged  upon  them,  crying :  "  Long 
live  the  Convention !  down  with  the  Jacobins  ! "  and  the  mob  fled, 
thinking  that  the  end  had  come,  though  the  reaction  was  really 
victorious.  The  governmental  Committees  and  the  deputies  of  the 
Right  and  Centre  returned,  breathing  vengeance,  and  insisting  that 
the  "conspirators"  must  be  punished.  Those  members  of  the 
Right  who  had  remained  excused  themselves  by  denouncing  the 
Mountaineers,  whom  they  had  urged  on  ;  the  ex-terrorists  outdoing 
the  Right  wing  in  violence.  Goujon,  Romme,  Duroi,  Duquesuoi, 
Bourbotte,  Riihl,  and  others  were  arrested.  Soubrani,  who  had  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  army  of  the  Pyrenees,  had  left  the  hall, 
but  was  declared  under  arrest ;  on  hearing  which,  he  quietly  joined 
his  friends  at  the  bar  of  the  Convention. 


636  THE  FEENCH   REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XXIII. 

The  meeting  closed  at  four  in  the  morning,  after  ordering  the 
"  blood-drinkers  and  agents  of  the  tyranny  which  preceded  the  9th 
of  Thermidor "  to  be  disarmed,  and,  as  a  concession  to  the  people, 
forbidding  the  manufacture  of  fine  bread.  But,  when  rumors  of 
these  measures  spread  through  Paris,  the  tocsin  was  sounded,  and 
the  Convention  was  forced  to  reassemble  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, calling  on  all  good  citizens  to  defend  it.  The  faubourgs  came 
up  with  their  cannon,  and,  meeting  the  troops  sent  to  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  drove  them  back  and  pushed  on  towards  Carrousel.  The  2d 
of  June  seemed  to  have  returned,  though  there  were  now  no  leaders 
and  no  plan  of  action,  which  proved  the  innocence  of  the  deputies 
arrested  the  night  before.  The  Convention,  resolved  to  compromise 
matters,  sent  six  of  its  members  to  address  the  populace,  promising 
to  try  to  obtain  supplies,  and  to  examine  the  Constitution  of  1793. 
They  were  met  in  a  fraternal  spirit.  Citizens  were  sent  to  parley 
with  the  Convention ;  and  the  crowd  retired  without  gaining  even 
the  life  and  liberty  of  the  Mountaineers  who  saved  the  Convention 
from  danger  and  the  people  from  crime,  showing  that  it  was  possi- 
ble to  calm  the  masses.  But  the  Assembly  did  not  appreciate  the 
situation.  On  the  3d  of  Prairial  it  ordered  a  man  to  be  guillotined 
on  a  charge  of  having  carried  Feraud's  head  on  a  pike.  A  report 
was  spread  that  he  was  to  be  killed  for  "  asking  bread  for  the  peo- 
ple," and  he  was  rescued  from  the  gendarmes,  and  fled  into  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Antoine.  "Freron's  boys,"  the  "jeunesse  doree"  (gilded 
youth),  at  once  offered  their  services  to  the  Convention,  and,  with 
twelve  hundred  men  and  two  cannons,  were  sent  to  attack  the  great 
faubourg  and  arrest  Cambon,  who  was  said  to  be  secretly  leading 
the  revolt  from  a  secure  retreat.  They  reached  the  heart  of  the 
Faubourg  St.  Antoine  unmolested,  and,  not  finding  Cambon,  seized 
the  cannons  of  the  Montreuil  section,  but,  on  returning,  found  that 
barricades  had  been  built  before  and  behind  them,  and  that  they 
were  caught  in  a  trap.  The  faubourg  might  have  slain  them,  but 
was  content  to  take  their  cannon  and  let  them  go.  The  Conven- 
tion, regardless  of  this  moderation,  summoned  the  faubourg  not  only 
to  deliver  up  "  Feraud's  assassins  "  to  justice,  but  to  surrender  its 
cannon,  and,  upon  refusal,  threatened  a  bombardment,  which  forced 


1795.]  TRIAL  OF  THE  MOUNTAINEERS.  637 

it  to  submit.  The  same  day,  before  this  submission,  a  military 
commission  was  formed,  to  try  all  authors  and  accomplices  of  con- 
spiracy and  revolt ;  and  a  few  days  later  this  order  was  declared 
applicable  to  the  representatives  arrested  on  the  1st  of  Prairial. 
The  commission  set  to  work  at  once,  sentencing  a  number  of  people 
for  their  share  in  the  1st  and  2d  of  Prairial,  and  ordering  several 
sections  to  give  up  their  cannon  and  deliver  their  pikes  to  the  sec- 
tional committees.  The  national  guard  were  allowed  no  weapon 
but  their  gun,  and  no  muskets  were  given  to  the  men  who  surren- 
dered their  pikes.  The  national  guard,  by  this  disarming  of  the 
terrorists,  became  civic,  as  in  Lafayette's  day ;  and  the  Committees 
suppressed  their  revolutionary  names  of  Committees  of  Public  Wel- 
fare and  General  Safety.  The  red  cap  was  replaced  by  a  tri- 
colored  one  in  the  official  insignia,  and  patriots  were  arrested  on 
every  side.  Keaction  raged  in  the  Convention.  May  9,  the  arrest 
was  demanded  of  every  member  of  the  former  Committees  of  Public 
Welfare  and  General  Safety,  that  is,  every  man  who  had  governed 
France  since  the  31st  of  May.  Eobert  Lindet,  who  had  fed  four- 
teen armies,  was  vainly  defended  by  a  few  Girondists,  who  swore 
that  he  had  saved  Calvados  and  the  neighboring  departments  from 
the  Eeign  of  Terror.  Bon-Saint-Andre,  who  re-created  the  French 
navy,  was  arrested  on  the  insane  charge  of  having  destroyed  it. 
Carnot's  arrest  was  required.  A  shudder  passed  over  the  Assembly, 
and  a  voice  cried  from  the  Centre,  "  Dare  you  lay  hands  on  the  man 
who  led  you  to  victory?"  This  speech  was  applauded,  and  the 
members  took  up  the  regular  order  of  proceedings,  Carnot  and 
Prieur  being  the  only  members  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Wel- 
fare spared.  The  next  day  an  attempt  was  made  to  put  a  stop  to 
the  reaction,  which  was  rapidly  tending  to  counter-revolution.  The 
Girondists  and  Dantonists,  united  by  their  desire  to  save  the  Eepub- 
lic,  proposed  to  repeal  the  order  to  send  the  deputies  accused  to  the 
military  commission,  and  to  have  them  tried  by  a  criminal  court. 
They  should  have  been  tried  before  an  ordinary  tribunal,  the  revo- 
lutionary tribunal  having  been  abolished  May  31,  after  a  duration 
of  two  and  a  half  years.  The  voice  of  justice  and  reason  was  un- 
heeded, and  the  commission  was  upheld.  Old  Eiihl  did  not  wait  for 


638  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XXIII. 

trial,  but  stabbed  himself.  He  was  a  good  man,  and  should  not  be 
confounded  with  his  colleagues,  Amar,  Vadier,  and  Voulland,  having 
refused  to  sign  their  report  against  Danton.  Maure,  another  deputy, 
killed  himself,  though  not  arrested  or  accused,  in  sheer  despair  at 
the  triumph  of  reaction.  The  six  representatives  arrested  on  the 
night  of  Prairial  1  were  sent  to  the  Chateau  du  Taureau,  on  an 
island  in  Brittany.  Only  two  could  be  considered  Jacobins,  —  the 
ex-monk,  Duquesnoi,  who  shared  the  glory  of  Wattignies  with  Car- 
not;  and  Bourbotte,  who  had  been  fierce  but  never  pitiless.  He 
wrote  to  a  friend  from  the  Chateau  du  Taureau  to  take  care  of  his 
two  children,  one  of  whom  was  a  little  Vendean  that  he  had  found 
on  the  field  of  Savenay,  and  brought  up  with  his  own  son.  The 
other  four  were  upright  and  honest,  —  the  purest  men  of  the  Con- 
vention. After  a  few  days'  captivity  on  the  Breton  coast,  they  were 
apprized  of  their  speedy  trial  in  Paris  by  the  military  commission, 
and,  knowing  that  they  were  condemned  in  advance,  vowed  to  take 
their  own  lives.  They  might  have  escaped  during  their  journey  had 
they  wished.  They  wrote  their  defence  from  the  prison  of  the  Quatre 
Nations,  and  it  was  irrefutable.  On  the  13th  of  June  they  appeared 
before  the  commission.  Some  few  deputies  testified  in  their  favor ; 
but  most  of  those  they  had  summoned  refused  to  appear,  or  gave 
evasive  answers.  They  were  sentenced  to  death.  On  the  same  day 
Goujon's  mother,  wife,  and  brother  brought  him  poison  and  a  knife, 
and  the  six  stabbed  themselves,  Eomme,  Duquesnoi,  and  Goujon 
dying  on  the  spot,  but  Duroi,  Bourbotte,  and  Soubrani  were  borne 
bleeding  to  the  gallows.  The  latter  died  by  the  way,  but  the  other 
two  mounted  the  scaffold,  crying,  "Long  live  the  Eepublic!"  — 
Duroi  telling  the  people  that  union  alone  could  save  the  Piepublic. 
This  was  the  saddest  day  of  the  Convention,  and  its  darkest  blot. 

All  the  men  who  had  helped  to  save  France  from  invasion  were 
threatened  in  turn ;  other  representatives  being  arrested,  among 
them  Hoche's  friends  and  brave  assistants  in  the  freeing  of  Alsace, 
—  Lacoste  and  Baudot.  But  Thermidorian  reaction  had  almost 
reached  its  term.  The  Convention  paused  on  the  brink  of  counter- 
revolution, appalled  by  the  ever-increasing  horrors  in  the  South  and 
the  renewal  of  war  in  La  Vendee. 


1794.]         PROGRESS  OF   THE  CAMPAIGN   OF   1794.  639 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

THE  CONVENTION  (contimwcT).  —  PROGKESS  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF 
1794  —  VICTORIES  IN  THE  PYRENEES.  —  INVASION  OF  HOLLAND.  — 
THE  DUTCH  REPUBLIC  ALLIED  TO  FRANCE.  —  CONQUEST  OF  THE 
LEFT  BANK  OF  THE  RHINE.  —  PEACE  WITH  PRUSSIA.  —  REUNION  OF 
BELGIUM  AND  FRANCE.  —  PEACE  WITH  SPAIN.  —  CAMPAIGN  OF  1795. 
—  PASSAGE  OF  THE  RHINE  BY  JOURDAN.  —  PICHEGRU'S  TREASON. 

Thennidor,  year  II.  —  Vendtmiaire,  year  III.     End  of  July,  1794—  Middle  of  Octo- 

ber, 1795. 


vast  plan  for  the  campaign,  so  far  advanced  before 
Robespierre's  fall,  was  completed  soon  after  Thermidor  9,  at 
the  two  extremities  of  the  Pyrenees  ;  the  French  armies  carrying 
the  Spanish  positions  on  the  Bidassoa  with  all  their  camp  equipage 
and  two  hundred  cannon,  Thermidor  11  (August  1).  They  then 
invaded  Spanish  territory,  Fontarabia  and  St.  Sebastian,  the  port  of 
passage,  yielding  in  four  days.  The  French  were  ordered  to  respect 
the  rights  of  property  and  free  worship,  and  behaved  admirably.  A 
majority  of  the  border  provinces  favored  the  Eevolution,  and  the 
province  of  Guipuscoa  refused  to  levy  troops  for  Spain.  Revolu- 
tionary sentiments  ruled  not  only  the  people,  but  the  hostile  army, 
and  they  fought  feebly  because  they  did  not  believe  in  their  cause. 
The  Walloons  in  the  Spanish  king's  body-guard  deserted  to  the 
French,  whose  army  entered  Navarre,  and  those  leaders  soon  became 
popular  heroes  ;  one  of  them,  La  Tour  d'Auvergne,  was  a  descend- 
ant of  the  great  Turenne,  and  had  done  good  service  in  the  Ameri- 
can war.  He  commanded  the  grenadiers,  and  his  troop  was  nick- 
named the  "  infernal  column,"  from  the  fear  they  inspired  in  their 
enemies.  Such  were  the  men  of  the  Western  Pyrenean  army.  In 
the  Eastern  Pyrenees,  Dugommier,  who  recaptured  Toulon,  took  the 


640  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XXIV. 

Fort  de  Bellegarde,  the  last  point  of  French  territory  held  by  the 
Spanish;  he  then  attacked  the  Spanish  army  stationed  behind  a 
double  line  of  intrenchments  upon  the  crests  of  Mont  Noire,  on  the 
extreme  frontier.  The  battle  lasted  four  days  (17-20  of  November) 
and  both  generals  were  killed,  Dugommier  on  the  French  side  and 
La  Ninon  on  the  Spanish  ;  but  the  latter  were  finally  forced  back 
with  great  loss,  and  the  French  marched  into  Catalonia,  capturing  a 
whole  Spanish  division  at  Figueras,  whence  they  marched  to  Eosas, 
besieged  and  captured  it,  despite  the  efforts  of  the  Spanish  fleet  to 
defend  it.  The  Spanish  government,  having  exhausted  its  resources, 
ordered  a  general  levy ;  but  the  people  would  not  yield,  nor  was  the 
King  of  Sardinia  more  successful  in  a  similar  attempt.  On  the  eve 
of  Thermidor  9,  Piedmont  was  in  peril ;  young  Eobespierre  and  its 
comrades,  sent  on  a  mission  to  the  armies  of  the  Alps  and  Italy, 
persuaded  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  to  adopt  a  plan  drawn 
up  by  General  Bonaparte  and  approved  by  Carnot,  and  the  united 
armies  were  about  to  enter  Piedmont,  perhaps  to  push  on  to  Turin. 
Robespierre's  fall  changed  all  this ;  the  new  representatives  sent  011 
that  mission  preventing  compliance  with  their  predecessor's  plan, 
though  France  remained  mistress  of  the  passes  of  the  Alps  and  the 
first  passes  of  the  Apennines,  at  the  junction  of  both  ranges. 

Military  events  were  progressing  in  the  North,  Pichegru  and 
Jourdan,  as  aforesaid,  having  cut  off  the  Austrians  from  the  Eng- 
lish and  Dutch  by  skirmishes  between  Louvain  and  Mechlin,  the 
enemy's  magazines  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  and 
Namur,  Antwerp,  and  all  the  Belgian  strongholds  freely  surren- 
dered. On  the  very  day  of  Thermidor  9,  Liege  rose  against  the 
retreating  Austrians,  who  fired  a  storm  of  bomb-shells  into  the  city ; 
but  Jourdan  put  a  stop  to  the  bombardment  by  threatening,  if  they 
burned  Lie"ge,  to  burn  all  the  property  of  Clairfayt,  Beaulieu,  and 
the  other  Belgian  generals  in  Austrian  service.  Clairfayt  was  soon 
after  put  in  command  of  the  Austrian  army,  in  place  of  the  dis- 
gusted and  disgraced  Cobourg.  The  French  always  talked  of  "  Pitt 
and  Cobourg  "  as  if  they  personified  the  coalition,  which  honor  the 
latter  did  not  merit,  having  entered  upon  the  war  like  Brunswick, 


1794.]          PROGRESS  OF   THE  CAMPAIGN   OF   1794.  641 

calmly,  even  doubtingly.  He  intrenched  his  army  in  a  long  line  to 
the  right  of  the  Meuse,  where  the  French  left  him  undisturbed  for 
some  time,  only  assuming  the  offensive  by  recapturing  posts  on  the 
frontier,  held  by  hostile  garrisons. 

The  thirty  thousand  men  in  the  rear  of  the  two  armies,  who  had 
recaptured  Landrecies,  proceeded  thence  to  Le  Quesnoy,  and  their 
general,  Scherer,  announced  to  the  Austrian  governor  of  the  place 
the  Convention's  fierce  order  to  put  to  the  sword  hostile  garrisons 
investing  French  strongholds,  who  did  not  surrender  at  discre- 
tion twenty-four  hours  after  summoned  so  to  do.  He  refused,  say- 
ing that  one  nation  had  no  right  to  order  the  dishonor  of  another ; 
but  eight  days  later,  seeing  that  the  town  would  soon  be  taken,  he 
offered  to  yield  at  discretion,  saying  that  the  garrison  were  ignorant 
of  Scherer's  summons,  so  that  he  was  alone  responsible  for  their 
refusal  The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  would  not  accept  this 
brave  man's  sacrifice,  but  ordered  Scherer  to  spare  him  and  his  gar- 
rison, at  the  same  time  bidding  Scherer  summon  Valenciennes  to 
surrender  without  delay.  The  governor  of  Valenciennes  consented 
on  condition  that  the  garrison  should  be  allowed  to  return  to  Aus- 
tria on  parole  until  they  were  exchanged,  which  was  agreed,  and 
on  the  27th  of  August  the  French  took  possession  of  Valenciennes, 
where  thev  found  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  cannon  and  a 
large  store  of  ammunition.  The  Austrians  had  spent  several  millions 
on  repairs  of  the  fortifications.  Conde,  the  last  French  post  held 
by  the  enemy,  yielded  three  days  after,  with  one  hundred  and  sixty 
cannon.  Nor  had  the  rest  of  the  French  armies  been  idle  ;  General 
Moreau,  who  was  rapidly  winning  fame,  captured  Nieuport,  the 
island  of  Cadsand,  and  Sluys,  on  the  coast  of  Flanders,  but  a  few  days 
before  the  9th  Thermidor.  Many  emigrants  found  in  Nieuport 
were  shot ;  but  Representative  Choudieu,  although  a  strong  Jacobin, 
took  it  upon  himself  to  spare  the  English  garrison.  Meantime 
another  General  Moreaux,  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  the  Moselle, 
took  Treves  after  a  series  of  brilliant  skirmishes  with  the  Austrians, 
whom  the  Prussians  did  not  aid  (August  9,  1794),  and  the  army  of 
the  Moselle,  though  starving  and  in  rags,  did  not  commit  the  least 

41 


642  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XXIV. 

excess  in  the  rich  land  of  Treves,  nor  was  the  army  of  the  Ehine 
under  inferior  discipline  ;  its  leaders  inspired  the  peasants  with  such 
confidence  that  they  took  no  pains  to  conceal  their  supplies. 

The  armies  of  the  North  and  of  Sambre-sur-Meuse  moved  shortly 
before  the  recapture  of  the  French  frontier  posts,  and  Pichegru  drove 
the  Dutch  and  English  army  from  Dutch  Brabant  to  the  north  of 
the  Lower  Meuse.  Jourdan  crossed  the  Meuse  at  Liege,  and  at- 
tacked the  left  wing  of  the  Austrian  army,  intrenched  behind  the 
deep  ravines  of  the  Ayvaille,  crossing  them,  scaling  the  heights,  and 
driving  them  from  their  position  (September  18).  Clairfayt  fell 
back  from  the  Meuse  to  the  Ruhr,  where  the  French  again  at- 
tacked him ;  nor  could  the  Austrian  positions  resist  the  onslaught 
of  men  like  Kleber,  Marceau,  Bernadotte,  Ney,  and  others,  whose 
names  fill  the  pages  of  history.  Kleber's  men  crossed  the  Ruhr  up 
to  their  shoulders  in  water,  under  a  storm  of  grapeshot ;  and  Clair- 
fayt was  driven  from  Dueren  to  Jlilich,  and,  three  days  later,  re- 
crossed  the  Rhine.  The  French  entered  Cologne  as  the  Austrians 
left  it  (October  6) ;  and  the  inhabitants  received  them  joyfully,  the 
liberty-tree  being  planted  in  front  of  the  town-hall  amid  general 
applause.  The  armies  of  the  Moselle  and  Sambre-sur-Meuse  met 
before  Cobleutz  October  23.  The  enemy  had  left  the  town,  and 
the  two  centres  of  emigration,  Treves  and  Coblentz,  wfere  in  the 
hands  of  the  Republic.  Meanwhile  Kleber  attacked  the  Dutch 
stronghold  of  Maestricht  with  part  of  Jourdan's  army,  taking  pos- 
session of  the  town  November  4  The  Prussian  army,  opposed  to 
the  armies  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Moselle,  recrossed  the  Rhine,  leaving 
the  whole  left  bank,  with  the  exception  of  Mayence  and  Luxem- 
bourg, in  the  power  of  the  French,  and  the  army  of  the  North 
advanced  from  one  triumph  to  another.  Having  conquered  Bois- 
le-Duc  and  Venloo,  and  forced  a  passage  across  the  Meuse,  it 
marched  upon  Nimeguen,  whence  the  English  and  Dutch  troops 
retired  to  the  north  of  the  Waal,  so  hastily  that  part  of  their  rear- 
guard were  captured  before  they  could  cross  the  river  (November 
9).  The  Dutch  stadtholder  was  discouraged,  and  tried  to  treat 
with  France,  but  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  refused.  Feel- 


644  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XXIV. 

day  a  revolutionary  committee  formed  at  Amsterdam  announced 
the  arrival  of  the  French,  who,  they  said,  would  treat  the  Dutch 
"  like  brothers."  The  rear-guard  entered  led  by  Daendels,  a  Dutch- 
man, and  singing  the  Marseillaise ;  and  all  Amsterdam  looked 
on  with  wonder  while  these  ragged,  barefooted  men  encamped  in 
the  snow,  and  patiently  waited  for  the  city  authorities  to  provide 
food  and  lodging.  The  next  day  Pichegru  arrived  with  five  repre- 
sentatives, who  announced  that  the  French  Republic  would  respect 
the  independence  and  power  of  the  Dutch  nation.  The  same  day 
(January  20)  the  French  hussars  and  light  artillery  crossed  North 
Holland,  reached  the  frozen  sea  between  the  Helder  and  the  island 
of  Texel,  and  seized  the  Dutch  fleet,  which  yielded  to  the  first  sum- 
mons. This  was  one  of  the  most  singular  events  in  military  his- 
tory, and  won  for  Pichegru  undeserved  fame.  All  Holland  lay 
open  to  the  French,  whose  armies  behaved  admirably ;  but  the  con- 
duct of  the  French  government  was  very  different  in  Belgium  and 
in  Holland,  the  former  being  looked  upon  as  a  conquered  country, 
having  been  very  variable  in  its  moods  towards  France.  The  poor 
were  favored,  but  a  levy  of  eighty  millions  was  made  on  the  upper 
classes.  Holland  was  treated  as  an  ally,  and  the  States-General 
were  only  asked  to  provide  for  the  army.  The  States-General  were 
soon  replaced  by  an  assembly  of  provisional  representatives,  who 
repealed  all  that  had  been  done  by  the  Prussians  in  1787,  abolished 
the  office  of  stadtholder,  recalled  exiled  patriots,  and  adopted  the 
French  Declaration  of  Eights  (February  3).  On  the  16th  of  May 
the  Republic  of  the  United  Provinces  signed  a  treaty  of  alliance 
with  France,  engaging  to  furnish  a  contingency  of  twelve  ships-of- 
the-line,  eighteen  frigates,  and  half  its  land-forces,  for  the  coming 
campaign,  paying  one  hundred  million  florins  towards  war-expenses, 
and  ceding  Dutch  Flanders  to  France;  thus  bounding  it  by  the 
western  arm  of  the  Lower  Scheldt,  Maestricht,  and  Venloo,  —  strong- 
holds on  the  Lower  Meuse.  Flushing,  the  chief  seaport  of  Zealand, 
was  to  be  held  in  common  by  French  and  Dutch,  and  the  Rhine, 
Meuse,  and  Scheldt  were  to  be  free  to  both ;  France  engaging  to  pay 
Holland  for  the  territory  ceded,  by  the  equivalents  of  Prussian  towns 


1795.]  PEACE  WITH   PRUSSIA.  645 

between  the  Lower  Meuse  and  Rhine  (Cleves  and  Guelderland).  The 
only  painful  thing  for  Holland  in  its  dealings  with  France  was  the 
transfer  to  Paris  of  the  stadtholder's  beautiful  pictures  and  collec- 
tions of  natural  history.  The  alliance  of  France  and  Holland  was 
universally  popular,  and  crowned  the  grand  campaign  of  1794 
Carnot's  plan  was  now  complete. 

Belgium's  fate  was  not  fixed  by  legislation  till  some  months  later. 
Ghent,  Brussels,  and  Antwerp  claimed  to  be  annexed  to  France 
even  more  eagerly  than  before,  and  the  Belgians  had  no  choice 
but  to  become  subjects  of  France  or  French  citizens,  —  latter  years 
having  shown  the  impossibility  of  a  Belgian  republic,  —  and  they 
hailed  with  joy  the  order  of  October  1,  annexing  their  country  to 
France.  This  order  was  not  issued  without  grave  deliberation, 
Carnot  showing  that  Belgian  annexation  was  peremptory  in  view 
of  the  war  with  England  and  Austria.  Belgium,  Liege,  and  the 
territory  ceded  by  Holland  were  divided  into  nine  departments. 

The  triumphs  of  the  French  Revolution  over  the  coalition  of 
kings  had  a  sad  compensation  in  Eastern  Europe,  where  the  mon- 
archies vanquished  in  the  West  indemnified  themselves  by  complet- 
ing the  destruction  of  Poland.  The  illustrious  leader  of  the  Polish 
insurrection,  Kosciusko,  had  forced  the  king  of  Prussia  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Warsaw,  but  was  defeated  by  the  Russians  soon  after  (Oc- 
tober 4),  and  a  month  later  the  Russian  general,  Suwarof,  who  had 
the  military  genius  and  cruelty  of  a  Tartar,  took  Prague,  the  chief 
faubourg  of  Warsaw,  by  storm,  and  massacred  the  inhabitants. 
Warsaw  fell,  and  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria  divided  the  wrecks 
of  Poland,  which  disappeared  from  the  ranks  of  independent 
nations. 

The  Prussian  government,  which  had  long  divided  its  efforts 
between  France  and  Poland,  now  took  a  decided  step,  and  gave 
up  all  intervention  with  Holland  and  the  Rhenish  provinces,  turn- 
ing its  entire  attention  to  spreading  its  eastern  frontier;  deeming 
the  possession  of  Dantzic  and  the  basin  of  the  Vistula  all-important. 
It  had  dishonestly  used  the  English  subsidy,  paid  to  secure  its  aid 
against  France,  in  Poland,  and  then  prepared  to  make  peace  for 


646  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XXIV. 

itself  and  the  petty  states  of  Germany  with  the  Republic.  Austria 
dared  not  oppose  peace  openly,  and  tried  to  gain  time  ;  but  early  in 
December  thirty-seven  of  the  Diet  were  in  favor  of  peace ;  thirty- 
six  requiring  it  to  be  made  through  Prussian  mediation.  This  was 
a  great  check  on  Austrian  influence.  Austria  demanded  that  nego- 
tiations should  be  based  on  the  restoration  of  the  possessions  of 
both  parties,  on  the  footing  of  the  Westphalia  treaty,  previous  to 
1789,  which  rendered  peace  impossible,  and  Prussia  refused,  her 
king  having  already  signed  the  instructions  for  an  ambassador  sent 
to  the  neutral  city  of  Basle,  to  treat  with  a  French  minister ;  and 
on  the  2d  of  January,  1795,  a  Prussian  envoy  declared  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  "Welfare  that  his  king  would  not  oppose  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  office  of  stadtholder  or  the  French  occupation  of  the 
left  bank  of  the  Ehine ;  that  he  only  wished  to  defer  the  cession 
of  Rhenish  provinces  till  a  general  peace  was  declared,  lest  Austria 
should  seize  the  countries  on  the  left  bank  as  French,  and  hold 
them  by  right  of  conquest.  Peace  was  signed  between  France  and 
Prussia  at  Basle,  April  5,  1795  ;  Prussia  yielding  her  possessions  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  until  a  general  peace,  and  France  grant- 
ing a  three  months'  truce  to  those  states  of  the  Empire  in  which 
Prussia  was  interested,  and  promising  to  accept  her  good  offices  in 
favor  of  the  German  states  claiming  them  for  purposes  of  treaty 
with  France.  Prussia  promised  by  secret  articles  not  to  act  against 
Holland  or  any  country  occupied  by  France ;  France  promised  not 
to  push  military  operations  in  countries  north  of  the  Maine,  and 
to  indemnify  Prussia  if  she  kept  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and 
the  peace  of  Basle  was  greeted  with  enthusiasm  by  France  and  the 
Convention. 

France  had  now  attained  the  zenith  of  her  power,  having  an- 
nexed by  voluntary  cession,  conquest,  or  alliance  vast  territories 
and  thirteen  million  souls;  in  seventeen  months  she  had  won 
twenty-seven  battles  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  skirmishes,  and 
had  captured  one  hundred  and  sixteen  strongholds.  The  Republic 
had  realized  the  ambition  of  French  kings  and  the  idea  of  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  that  France,  like  ancient  Gaul,  should  comprise  the  whole 


1795.]         ENGLISH   MEASURES  AGAINST  FRANCE.  647 

territory  between  the  Bhine,  the  Alps,  the  two  seas,  and  the  Pyre- 
nees. The  union  of  Holland  and  France  and  the  defection  of 
Prussia  were  terrible  blows  to  the  coalition;  it  was  evident  that 
Spain  would  soon  follow  Prussia ;  and  Piussia,  engrossed  with  Po- 
land, gave  nothing  but  promises  to  the  foes  of  France.  England 
grew  more  fierce  for  war  in  proportion  to  her  lack  of  success.  It 
was  her  fixed  plan  to  indemnify  herself  on  the  seas  for  the  losses, 
through  her  allies,  on  the  Continent.  She  consoled  herself  for  Hol- 
land's desertion  by  the  hope  of  winning  her  rich  colonies.  In  vain 
did  the  friends  of  justice  and  progress  strive  to  prevent  her  inter- 
ference with  France,  and  payment  of  the  new  subsidies  demanded 
by  Pitt.  The  ministry  called  for  one  hundred  thousand  sailors, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  troops  of  the  line,  to  say 
nothing  of  sixty-five  thousand  militia  and  forty  thousand  men  for 
service  in  Ireland  and  the  American  colonies,  German  auxiliaries 
and  emigrants  in  English  pay ;  and  nearly  seven  million  francs  were 
required  to  pay  these  men,  —  a  sum  which  represents  nearly  double 
as  much  to-day.  Pitt,  having  given  Prussia  her  ill-earned  money, 
was  forced  to  bribe  Austria  in  turn,  for  she  demanded  a  loan  of  four 
million  pounds  sterling,  and  he  could  not  refuse  ;  the  Austrian  alli- 
ance alone  making  war  possible.  There  was  a  brief  hope  of  peace 
between  France  and  Austria  through  a  new  Austrian  minister  named 
Thugut ;  but  at  the  same  time  that  Francis  II.  declared  to  the  Diet 
that  he  was  ready  to  treat  with  the  Eepublic,  he  signed  an  agree- 
ment with  England  to  maintain  at  least  two  hundred  thousand 
men  for  vigorous  action  against  the  common  enemy  in  return  for  a 
loan  of  four  million  six  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling. 

A  new  English  orator  and  statesman  now  interposed  in  favor 
of  peace,  —  Wilberforce,  that  great  and  good  man  who  devoted  his 
life  to  the  abolition  of  negro  slavery ;  but  his  motion  was  defeated. 
The  enemies  of  France  saw  that  revolutionary  power  was  ex- 
hausted by  excesses,  but  they  did  not  see  that  the  military  power 
of  the  Eevolution  was,  and  would  be  for  some  time,  invincible. 
The  Committees  had  formed  great  plans  for  the  campaign  of  1795  ; 
meaning  to  invade  the  territories  of  the  allies,  take  Mayence,  and 


648  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XXIV. 

enter  Southern  Germany,  go  down  into  Italy  and  reach  the  very 
heart  of  Spain.  But  Carnot,  Lindet,  and  Prieur  were  no  longer  on 
the  Committee,  and  their  successors  were  not  their  equals ;  army 
discipline  was  relaxed ;  a  vulgar  reactionist  had  replaced  Carnot  in 
the  war  department  and  was  working  ruin ;  the  troops  were  paid  in 
worthless  assignats  until  late  in  the  season,  when  one  third  money 
was  given  them ;  nevertheless,  they  stood  by  their  colors. 

The  attack  in  Spain  was  to  begin  with  the  Lower  Pyrenees,  by 
the  capture  of  Pampeluna  and  a  march  upon  Castile,  but  famine 
and  fever  decimated  the  army  of  the  Western  Pyrenees,  and 
General  Moncey  was  forced  to  postpone  all  serious  action  till  the 
summer.  At  the  other  end  of  the  Pyrenees,  the  French  and  Span- 
iards were  fighting  aimlessly  at  the  entry  to  Catalonia.  The  war 
was  at  a  standstill ;  but  the  negotiations  went  on  between  the  two 
countries.  The  king  of  Spain,  as  in  honor  bound,  made  the  libera- 
tion of  his  young  kinsman,  the  son  of  Louis  XVI.,  a  condition  of 
peace.  This  the  Eepublic  would  not  grant,  but  the  prisoner's  death 
(June  8,  1795)  removed  the  obstacle.  The  counter-revolutionists 
accused  the  Committees  of  poisoning  the  child  styled  by  the  royal- 
ist party  Louis  XVII.  This  charge  was  false;  the  poor  little 
prisoner  died  of  scrofula,  developed  by  inaction,  ennui,  and  the 
sufferings  of  a  pitiless  imprisonment,  increased  by  the  cruel  treat- 
ment of  his  jailers,  a  cobbler  named  Simon  and  his  wife.  A  rumor 
was  also  spread  that  the  child  was  not  dead,  but  had  been  taken 
away  and  an  impostor  substituted,  who  had  died.  Only  one  of  the 
royal  family  now  remained  in  the  Temple,  Louis  XVI.'s  daughter, 
afterwards  the  Duchess  d'Angouleme. 

Spain  interceded  for  her,  and  she  was  exchanged  for  the  repre- 
sentatives betrayed  to  Austria  by  Dumouriez,  and  the  French  diplo- 
matic agents  arrested  by  Austria  on  the  neutral  ground  of  Grisons. 
Peace  with  Spain  was  also  hastened  by  French  successes  beyond 
the  Pyrenees;  General  Marceau,  being  reinforced,  took  Vittoria 
and  Bilboa,  and  pushed  on  to  the  Ebro.  On  the  22d  of  July,  Bar- 
thelemi,  the  able  French  diplomatist,  signed  a  treaty  of  peace  with 
Spain  at  Basle,  restoring  her  Biscayan  and  Catalonian  provinces, 


1795.]  FRENCH  ALLIANCE  WITH  SPAIN.  649 

and  accepting  Spanish  mediation  in  favor  of  the  king  of  Naples, 
Duke  of  Parma,  king  of  Portugal,  and  "  the  other  Italian  powers," 
including,  though  not  mentioning,  the  Pope  ;  and  Spain  yielded  her 
share  of  San  Domingo,  which  put  a  brighter  face  on  French  affairs 
in  America,  for  the  blacks  and  mulattoes  aided  the  French  troops 
to  confine  English  invasion  to  a  few  points  on  the  coast  of  San 
Domingo.  Guadeloupe,  Santa  Lucia,  and  St.  Eustache  were  re- 
stored to  the  French,  and  revolt  was  rife  among  the  negroes  of  the 
English  Antilles. 

One  clause  of  the  treaty  with  Spain  deserves  mention ;  it  prom- 
ises, on  the  part  of  Spain,  an  annual  tribute  of  one  hundred  Anda- 
lusian  stallions,  one  hundred  Merino  rams,  and  one  thousand  sheep 
to  regenerate  French  stock.  Spain  soon  made  overtures  for  an 
alliance  with  France,  wishing  to  put  down  the  English  desire  to 
rule  the  seas  ;  and,  before  the  new  treaty  was  signed,  the  army  of 
the  Eastern  Pyrenees  was  sent  to  reinforce  the  armies  of  the  Alps 
and  Italy,  who  had  only  held  their  positions  in  the  Apennines  and 
on  the  Ligurian  coast  against  the  Austrians  and  Piedmontese  by 
sheer  force  of  will ;  but  in  the  autumn  of  1795  the  face  of  affairs 
was  changed. 

Now  that  Prussia  had  left  the  coalition,  war  on  the  Ehine  went 
on  between  France  and  Austria,  sustained  by  the  South  German 
States ;  France  had  to  complete  her  mastery  of  the  left  bank  by  tak- 
ing Mayence  and  Luxembourg ;  and  Austria's  aim  was  to  dispute 
them  with  her.  The  French  government  charged  Marceau  to 
besiege  Mayence  during  the  winter  of  1794-95,  but  did  not  furnish 
him  the  necessary  resources,  and  France  not  holding  the  right  bank, 
Kleber  could  only  partially  invest  the  town,  and  both  his  soldiers 
and  those  blockading  Luxembourg  suffered  greatly  from  cold  and 
privation.  Early  in  March,  1795,  Pichegru  was  put  in  command  of 
the  armies  of  the  Rhine  and  Moselle,  and  Jourdan  was  ordered  to 
support  him  on  the  left  (the  Lower  Ehine)  with  the  army  of  Sambre- 
et-Meuse.  Austria  took  no  advantage  of  the  feeble  state  of  the 
French  troops,  and  Luxembourg,  one  of  the  strongest  posts  in 
Europe,  receiving  no  help,  surrendered  (June  24)  with  eight  hundred 


650  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.         [CHAP.  XXIV. 

cannon  and  huge  stores  of  provisions.  The  French  now  had  the  upper 
hand,  Pichegru  and  Jourdan  commanding  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  men  on  the  Ehine.  One  of  these  men  was  upright  and 
brave,  but  the  other  had  treason  in  his  soul ;  though  everybody 
admired  Pichegru,  "  the  conqueror  of  Holland."  It  would  be  too 
weak  to  call  him  a  second  Dumouriez,  for  he  was  far  worse ;  not 
aspiring  to  power  for  himself,  he  wanted  a  master.  Being  no  longer 
subject  to  the  great  Committee,  Eobespierre  and  Saint- Just,  he 
turned  to  the  Pretender,  Louis  XVI.'s  eldest  brother,  who  had  taken 
the  title  of  Louis  XVIII.  Had  the  Eepublic  paid  him  well,  he 
might  not  have  betrayed  it ;  but  the  general  distress  caused  by  the 
fall  of  assignats  persuaded  him,  and  he  sold  his  country  to  gratify 
his  vices. 

In  August,  1795,  an  agent  of  the  Prince  of  Conde,  who  was  then 
at  Brisgau,  in  the  Black  Forest,  with  his  corps  of  emigrants,  offered 
Pichegru,  who  was  in  Alsace,  the  title  of  Marshal  of  France  and  Gov- 
ernor of  Alsace,  the  royal  castle  of  Chambord,  a  million  down,  an 
annuity  of  two  hundred  thousand  livres,  and  a  house  in  Paris,  in  the 
"  king's "  name,  thus  flattering  at  once  his  vanity  and  his  greed. 
His  native  town  of  Artois  was  to  change  its  name  to  "  Pichegru," 
and  he  wras  offered,  to  adorn  "  his  Chateau  de  Chambord,"  twelve  of 
the  cannon  captured  from  the  Austrians  by  that  army,  all  of  whose 
conquests  it  was  proposed  to  restore  to  the  enemy.  He  was  checked 
by  no  scruples  ;  utterly  devoid  of  moral  sense,  he  hoped  to  gain  his 
army  by  money  and  wine,  and  had  no  discussion  with  the  Prince  of 
Conde,  save  as  to  the  manner  of  his  treason.  Conde*  wished  him  to 
deliver  Huningue  to  the  emigrants  and  join  them  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Ehine,  while  he  preferred  to  join  them  on  the  right  bank. 
Before  they  came  to  an  agreement,  Pichegru  and  Jourdan  received 
orders  to  cross  the  Ehine,  from  the  Committee  of  Public  Welfare, 
and  to  make  two  simultaneous  attacks,  one  by  Pichegru  between 
Huningue  and  Brisach,  with  the  armies  of  the  Ehine  and  Moselle, 
and  the  other  by  Jourdan  with  the  army  of  Sambre-et-Meuse  on  the 
Westphalian  side.  Holland  furnished  Jourdan  with  pontoon-bridges, 
and  he  prepared  to  cross  the  Ehine  near  Dusseldorf ;  but  Pichegru 


652  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

THE  CONVENTION  (concluded).  —  BKITTANY  AND  LA  VENDEE.  —  GEN- 
ERAL HOCHE  IN  THE  WEST.  —  QUIBERON.  —  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

YEAR  m.  —  VENDE"MIAIRE  13.  —  CLOSE  OF  THE  CONVENTION. 

January,  1794  — October  26, 1795.    Nivose,  Year  II.—  Brnmalre,  Year  IV. 

r  I  1HE  Vendean  war  would  probably  have  closed  in  1793  with 
JL  the  great  disaster  north  of  the  Loire,  had  amnesty  been 
granted  to  the  peasants  who  submitted  at  the  same  time  that  just 
punishment  was  dealt  to  Charette  and  the  other  chiefs.  But  the 
system  of  extermination  pursued  by  Carrier  at  Nantes  extended 
into  La  Vendee.  General  Turreau  scoured  the  country  with  twelve 
columns  of  men,  who  carried  off  cattle  and  crops,  broke  down 
hedges,  burned  villages,  and  killed  the  inhabitants,  driving  the 
wretched  remnant  to  join  Charette  or  La  Rochejacquelein,  Stofflet, 
and  Marigni,  who  had  survived  the  ruin  of  their  armies,  and  re- 
turned to  the  south  of  the  Loire.  It  was  in  vain  that  Charette  was 
tracked  into  the  Marais,  and  the  island  of  Noirmoutiers  (which  he 
had  seized)  taken  from  him.  He  escaped  the  "  infernal  columns,"  as 
they  were  fitly  named,  and  roamed  the  Bocage  with  a  picked  body 
of  men,  as  did  La  Rochejacquelein  and  the  other  chiefs.  La  Roche- 
jacquelein,  however,  soon  met  his  death  in  this  petty  warfare.  One 
day,  followed  by  a  single  horseman,  he  saw  a  republican  grenadier 
pass  by,  and  called  on  him  to  surrender.  The  soldier  turned  and 
fired  on  him,  and  La  Rochejacquelein  fell  dead.  His  companion 
slew  the  soldier  (February,  1794).  He  was  but  twenty-one,  and 
his  youth  and  bravery  gave  his  name  a  prestige  which  time  has 
never  effaced. 

La  Vendee  was  given  over  to  blood  and  flames  in  this  horrible 


1794.]  GENERAL  HOCHE  IN  THE  WEST.  653 

struggle,  in  which  each  party  vied  -with  the  other  in  atrocities, 
Pageot,  one  of  the  Marais  band,  crucifying  the  "  blues "  (republi- 
cans) whom  he  captured  !  Both  parties  might  have  died  of  hunger 
in  this  devastated  country,  had  not  Carrier's  recall  brought  a  change 
of  treatment.  The  Committee  of  Public  Welfare  yielded  to  Car- 
not's  opinions  in  regard  to  the  conduct  of  the  war,  and  also  recalled 
General  Turreau.  His  successor,  General  Vimeux,  less  barbarous 
though  not  less  vigorous,  invaded  the  Marais,  the  favorite  haunt  of 
Charette  and  Pageot,  who  were  driven  to  the  Bocage ;  and  the  rep- 
resentatives invited  the  peasants  to  return  to  their  harvests,  promis- 
ing them  amnesty.  This  mildness  disarmed  them.  Their  strength 
lay  in  their  despair,  and  the  dissensions  of  their  leaders  contributed 
to  discourage  them.  Charette,  Stofflet,  and  Abbe  Bernier  had  just 
shot  their  comrade,  Marigni,  and  the  two  former  were  bitter  foes. 

In  forsaking  terrorism  the  committees  of  the  Thermidorian  gov- 
ernment unfortunately  went  to  the  other  extreme.  Not  content 
with  promising  "  pardon  and  oblivion "  to  all  who  laid  down  their 
arms  within  a  month,  they  entered  into  treaty  with  the  leaders,  — 
men  unworthy  of  trust,  and  who  ought  at  least  to  have  been 
exiled. 

The  only  hope  of  Charette  and  Stofflet  was  in  alarming  the  peas- 
ants. With  a  little  patience,  the  republican  army  would  have  sur- 
rounded the  country  and  put  down  the  rebellion ;  but  a  natural 
desire  to  wipe  out  all  trace  of  the  Eeign  of  Terror  led  good  patriots 
into  dangerous  ways  as  well  in  Brittany  as  in  La  Vendee,  the  con- 
dition of  which  was  even  more  distressing.  As  Michelet  says,  "  In 
La  Vendee  the  war  of  the  assassins  was  dying  out ;  in  Brittany  it 
was  kindling."  The  Chouans  reappeared  in  quarters  where  civil 
war  was  still  unknown,  infesting  Morbihan  and  the  Cotes  du  Nord ; 
spreading  over  Brittany  and  Maine,  and  extending  into  Lower  Nor- 
mandy and  La  Perche ;  killing  public  officers  and  patriots,  and  try- 
ing to  reduce  the  villages  by  violent  threats  against  all  who  carried 
them  supplies.  General  Hoche,  who  had  been  freed  after  Robes- 
pierre's fall,  and  was  given  the  military  command  in  those  regions, 
sadly  saw  himself  compelled  to  crush  his  misguided  countrymen, 


654  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 

while  his  comrades  in  glory  continued  without  him  their  heroic 
deeds  on  the  Rhine.  Nevertheless,  his  post  was  not  without  im- 
portance in  the  present,  and  might  become  of  vital  consequence  in 
the  future.  Carnot  and  Hoche  both  thought  the  army  of  the  West 
destined  to  become  the  army  of  England,  and  considered  England 
their  only  enemy. 

Hoche  went  to  the  West,  resolved  to  win  the  people  by  justice 
and  mercy.  He  obtained  the  repeal  of  the  order  to  cut  down  all 
hedges  in  the  scene  of  insurrection,  protected  the  peasants  by  giv- 
ing seed  to  all  whose  crops  had  failed,  and  forbade  all  disturbance 
of  religious  worship,  or  persecution  of  refractory  priests  who  were 
not  Chouans;  but  at  the  same  time  he  divided  his  troops  into 
little  camps  of  three  or  four  hundred  men,  so  that  the  Chouans 
might  meet  resistance  in  all  quarters.  He  also  treated  with  the 
Maine  and  Brittany  leaders,  as  others  had  done  in  La  Vendee ;  but 
this  was  more  excusable,  inasmuch  as  he  dealt  with  new  men,  whose 
characters  were  not  so  well  known  as  that  of  Charette.  Had  he 
been  left  to  himself,  his  eyes  would  soon  have  been  opened  ;  but 
representatives  on  missions,  who  sinned  through  weakness,  as  those 
before  Thermidor  sinned  through  violence,  trammelled  his  action, 
and  tried  to  usurp  all  the  honors  of  the  pacification.  Too  much 
attention  was  wasted  on  Charette,  to  the  neglect  of  a  much  worse 
foe,  the  Count  de  Puisaye,  the  most  dangerous  man  that  the  coun- 
ter-revolution had  yet  had  in  its  service.  He  had  been  Wimpffen's 
aid  in  Normandy  after  June  2,  when  the  disguised  royalists  hoped 
to  turn  the  Girondist  movement  to  their  profit,  and  had  afterwards 
gone  into  Maine  and  Brittany,  rallied  the  Chouans,  and  extended 
their  ramifications  from  Morbihan  to  La  Manche  and  Orne.  His 
brain  filled  with  vast  projects,  he  made  the  Breton  bands  accept  an 
adventurer  named  Cormatin  as  "  major-general,"  and  crossed  to  Eng- 
land at  the  end  of  September,  1794,  to  gain  Pitt's  support  for  his 
plans. 

Cormatin  and  Bois-Hardi,  another  popular  Chouan  leader,  entered 
into  treaty  with  Hoche,  and  held  out  hopes  that  their  party  would 
soon  submit,  agreeing  secretly  with  Charette,  who  had  neither  bread 


1794.]  GENERAL  HOCHE  IN  THE  WEST.  655 

nor  powder,  to  make  a  pretended  peace  until  Puisaye's  plans  ap- 
proached completion.  A  conference  took  place  at  Jaunay,  near 
Nantes,  between  the  representatives  sent  to  the  "West  and  a  body 
of  Vendean  chiefs,  who  signed  an  arrogant  declaration  denying 
nothing  in  the  past,  and  inveighing  against  the  "  dictators,  who,  by 
unparalleled  outrages,  had  forced  them  to  take  up  arms.  The  reign 
of  blood  being  over,"  they  promised  to  yield  to  the  Republic,  one 
and  indivisible,  and  never  again  to  bear  arms  against  it  The  rep- 
resentatives promised  to  protect  and  assist  religion,  commerce,  and 
agriculture,  and  to  pay  all  bonds  for  supplies  issued  by  the  Vendean 
leaders,  to  the  amount  of  two  millions ;  Charette  receiving  a  large 
sum  into  the  bargain,  and  his  lieutenants  smaller  sums,  and  he  being 
left  in  command — which  was  much  worse  —  of  the  country  occupied 
by  his  men  (February  17,  1795).  As  a  sign  of  reconciliation,  he 
entered  Nantes  with  the  representatives,  though  he  still  wore  his 
white  plume  and  sash,  and  could  hardly  be  persuaded  to  lay  them 
aside.  So  great  was  the  desire  for  peace  that,  in  this  republican 
city,  which  so  detested  the  brigands  of  La  Vendee,  cries  of  "  Vive 
Charette ! "  were  heard.  But  he  was  still  uneasy,  and  the  peace  he 
had  just  signed  was  violated  in  advance  in  his  heart. 

His  rival,  Stofflet,  at  first  protested  against  his  defection ;  bu^ 
being  closely  pressed  by  the  republicans  in  Lower  Anjou,  he  yielded 
in  his  turn,  with  his  counsellor  and  guide,  the  famous  Abbe  Bernier. 
He  was  lost,  in  fact,  but  the  unwise  representatives  rescued  him  by 
granting  him  the  same  conditions  as  Charette  (May  2).  A  few  days 
previous  (April  20)  most  of  the  Chouan  leaders  had  signed  the 
peace  at  Reimes,  Cormatin  receiving  a  million  and  a  half  francs  for 
himself  and  men.  We  shall  soon  see  how  this  insincere  peace  was 
observed,  but  must  now  revert  to  foreign  intrigues  and  preparations 
for  interference  in  the  West  of  France. 

Puisaye  was  in  London,  busy  with  his  plots.  He  knew  that  his 
only  hope  of  winning  English  help  lay  in  becoming  an  Englishman, 
so  to  speak,  and  gained  Pitt's  confidence  by  throwing  aside  all  the 
patriotic  scruples  still  remaining  in  the  minds  of  the  emigrants,  who 
were  more  divided  than  ever,  the  two  brothers  of  Louis  XVI.  having 


656  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 

each  his  faction.  "  Monsieur  "  the  ex-count  of  Provence,  who,  be- 
fore the  young  Dauphin's  death,  had  styled  himself  "  Kegent  of  the 
Kingdom,"  had  withdrawn  to  Verona.  The  Count  d'Artois,  who 
was  at  St.  Petersburg  early  in  1793,  had  received  from  Catherine  II. 
a  sword,  a  million  francs,  and  a  ship,  with  which  to  make  a  descent 
on  La  Vendee.  He  cared  little  for  such  an  enterprise,  and,  when 
England  refused  to  support  him,  gladly  retired  into  Northern  Ger- 
many, where  he  remained  under  English  protection  until  the  peace 
between  France  and  Prussia. 

"  Monsieur  "  and  his  little  court  at  Verona  were,  on  the  contrary, 
hostile  to  England,  and  relied  more  on  royalist  intrigues  at  home 
than  on  foreign  aid.  They  detested  Pitt  for  plotting  to  ruin  France, 
and  Puisaye  as  his  agent.  These  divisions  led  to  serious  results. 
Puisaye,  thwarted  by  "  Monsieur's "  party,  still  pursued  his  plans, 
one  of  which  was  to  indemnify  himself  for  the  Western  insurrec- 
tion, and  to  ruin  the  Eepublic  by  using  counterfeit  assignats,  many 
of  which  were  made  in  England ;  the  government  winking  at  the 
forgeries,  though  Sheridan  indignantly  protested  against  them  in 
the  House  of  Commons  (March  19,  1794). 

Puisaye,  before  going  to  England,  arranged  with  the  royalist  lead- 
ers in  Brittany  for  the  issue  of  paper-money,  similar  in  all  respects 
to  the  assignats  of  the  Convention,  but  marked  so  that  they  might 
be  known  and  repaid  after  the  counter-revolution.  On  reaching 
London  he  produced  vast  quantities  of  these  forgeries,  which  he  put 
into  circulation  in  Brittany.  Many  refractory  priests,  who  had  fled 
to  England,  were  employed  in  this  manufacture,  with  the  permission 
of  the  Bishop  of  Dol,  though  another  Breton  prelate,  the  Bishop 
of  St.  Pol-de-Leon,  protested  against  the  indignity,  and  suspended 
from  their  functions  those  of  the  forgers  belonging  to  his  diocese. 
The  effect  of  this  deluge  of  counterfeit  money  was  ruinous,  though 
Puisaye  exaggerates  it  in  his  memoirs.  He  now  thought  that  the 
ground  was  prepared,  and  that  the  moment  for  action  had  come. 
He  formed  the  plan  of  attack  with  Pitt,  choosing  Brittany  as  the 
centre  of  revolt,  La  Vendee  being  exhausted.  Morbihan  was  to  be 
the  base  of  operations,  which  were  to  extend  into  Maine  and  Lower 


1795.]  PUISAYE'S  EXPEDITION.  657 

Normandy.  Seven  regiments  of  emigrants  in  English  pay  were  to 
be  formed,  who  were  to  wear  the  English  red  coat,  retaining  their 
own  white  flag  and  cockade ;  and  an  effort  was  made  to  swell  their 
numbers  by  enlisting  French  prisoners,  —  an  imprudence  that  was 
destined  to  cost  them  dear !  These  regiments  filling  up  slowly, 
Puisaye  asked  for  an  English  army-corps,  which  Pitt  refused.  Pui- 
saye,  however,  decided  to  trust  to  chance,  news  from  the  West 
giving  him  great  hope.  The  peace  had  been  detrimental  to  the 
counter-revolutionary  interests  in  Vendee,  which  only  sought  re- 
pose ;  but  in  Brittany  and  the  rest  of  the  West  "  Chouannerie  " 
gained  leisure,  by  the  pretended  peace,  to  renew  its  strength.  Fresh 
men  were  enlisted,  arms  and  provisions  bought,  and  the  peasants 
prevented  from  taking  supplies  to  the  towns,  thus  causing  a  facti- 
tious dearth  at  Nantes,  Rennes,  and  Angers.  Their  ablest  leaders 
tried  to  arrest  murder  and  pillage  to  lull  republican  suspicion,  but 
in  vain ;  the  Chouans  continued  their  massacres. 

Hoche,  desirous  as  he  was  of  domestic  peace,  was  clear-sighted 
enough  soon  to  see  that  he  was  surrounded  by  treachery.  He 
warned  the  representatives  and  government,  and  prepared  to  renew 
the  struggle  by  breaking  up  his  camps  and  concentrating  his  forces 
to  resist  the  impending  double  attack  from  without  and  within. 
Meanwhile  one  of  Cormatin's  couriers,  charged  with  secret  despatches 
for  the  royalist  council  at  Morbihan,  was  arrested,  and  the  plan  of 
the  conspirators  discovered.  Thereupon  three  representatives  at 
Vannes  ordered  the  arrest  of  Cormatin  and  several  other  leaders, 
and  the  former's  headquarters  and  Prevalaye,  near  Ptennes,  were 
invested  and  dispersed.  The  first  troops  who  took  up  arms  in  Mor- 
bihan were  beaten,  and  Bois-Hardi,  the  great  Chouan  leader,  was 
attacked  and  slain.  When  Puisaye's  expedition  reached  Brittany, 
the  two  men  upon  whom  he  had  chiefly  reckoned  were,  one  cap- 
tured, the  other  dead.  His  corps  numbered  little  more  than  three 
thousand ;  but  they  had  arms  and  ammunition  enough  for  a  great 
army.  Pitt  refused  English  blood,  but  was  lavish  of  everything 
else. 

The  French  government  learned  of  the  approach  of  the  English 

42 


658  THE  FEENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 

expedition  from  the  boasts  of  royalist  agents  in  Paris,  and  ordered 
the  French  squadron  at  Brest  to  meet  it.  Admiral  Villaret-Joyeuse 
met  the  convoy,  but  did  not  attack  it  in  time  to  prevent  the  arrival 
of  a  second  English  squadron,  which  was  cruising  in  the  Channel, 
and  the  English  Admiral,  Bridport,  assumed  the  offensive  with  four- 
teen vessels  against  twelve.  The  French  lost  two  ships,  and  the 
rest  returned  to  Lorient  (June  23).  Villaret  had  been  badly  sup- 
ported by  some  of  his  captains,  and  something  worse  than  inca- 
pacity was  suspected.  These  suspicions  were  confirmed  when  a 
number  of  men  deserted  to  the  Chouans.  The  navy  had  sadly 
declined  since  the  days  of  Bon-Saint-Andre. 

During  the  combat,  the  expedition  went  on  its  way  and  cast 
anchor  next  day  in  Quiberon  bay,  between  the  peninsula  of  that 
name  and  the  lagoon  of  Morbihan,  the  point  chosen  by  Puisaye 
from  which  to  diverge  throughout  Brittany.  At  the  decisive  mo- 
ment strife  broke  out  between  Puisaye,  commander-in-chief  of  the 
expedition,  and  D'Hervilli,  the  leader  of  the  emigrants  in  English 
pay.  The  latter,  who  was  a  tool  of  Monsieur,  and  the  party  hostile 
to  Puisaye  insisted  on  landing  in  Vende'e.  Warren,  the  commander 
of  the  squadron,  sided  with  Puisaye,  and  two  days  were  lost  in  dis- 
pute, so  that  they  did  not  land  at  Caruac,  famous  for  its  Celtic  mon- 
uments, until  June  22. 

They  were  joined  by  fourteen  thousand  peasants  from  the  country 
round  about.  Puisaye  wished  to  attack  the  Republican  army  on  the 
spot;  D'Hervilli  refused,  and  while  the  English  government  was 
settling  the  question,  they  remained  on  the  defensive,  only  taking 
Fort  Penthievre,  commanding  the  entrance  to  Quiberon.  Hoche 
lost  no  time :  after  taking  measures  to  put  down  the  rebellion  in  his 
rear,  he  routed  the  enemy  at  Auray,  and  drove  back  the  emigrants 
and  Chouans  to  Carnac  and  St.  Barbe  and  thence  to  Quiberon  (July 
3).  He  felt  so  sure  of  success  that  he  had  already  devised  means 
for  aiding  the  poor  peasants  who  followed  the  emigrants  in  their 
retreat.  At  Quiberon  everything  was  in  confusion ;  the  emigrant 
nobles  and  Breton  peasants  blamed  each  other  for  the  defeat,  the 
leaders  quarrelled  continually,  and  Puisaye,  on  the  eve  of  ruin, 


1795.]  PROCEEDINGS  OF   CHOUANS.  659 

childishly  avenged  himself  by  writing  to  the  English  government  to 
imprison  the  republican  officers  captured,  in  company  with  malefac- 
tors. He  sent  repeated  despatches  to  England,  imploring  aid,  Eng- 
lish troops,  and  the  Count  d'Artois.  Pitt  sent  neither  the  English 
nor  D'Artois,  but  a  fresh  corps  of  eleven  hundred  emigrants  under 
Sombreuil,  the  brother  of  the  brave  girl  who  had  saved  her  father 
from  the  September  massacres,  but  had  been  unable  to  rescue  him 
from  the  scaffold.  Another  larger  body  of  emigrants  set  out  from 
Jersey;  but  the  agents  of  Monsieur,  or  Louis  XVIII.,  as  he  was 
now  called,  induced  the  English  government  to  send  them  to  St. 
Malo  instead  of  to  Quiberon,  the  royalists  promising  to  give  up 
that  port  should  an  English  expedition  appear.  St.  Malo,  however, 
instead  of  opening  her  gates,  received  them  with  cannon-balls,  and 
the  fleet  set  sail,  but  too  late  to  reach  Quiberon. 

The  agents  of  the  "King"  (Louis  XVIII.)  instructed  Charette 
and  the  Chouans  near  Rennes,  not  to  take  up  arms  anew  until  the 
expedition  landed  at  Quiberon  had  set  out  for  La  Vendee,  which 
shows  the  chaotic  condition  of  the  emigrant  and  royalist  party. 
Although  England  confirmed  Puisaye  in  his  command,  he  could  not 
assume  authority,  or  prevent  D'Hervilli  from  making  an  attack  on 
the  republicans  (July  16),  in  the  vain  hope  of  regaining  St.  Barbe. 
Two  deserters  from  the  royalist  camp  warned  the  republicans,  Hoche 
was  prepared,  and  when  the  Chouans  came  up,  they  were  received 
with  a  shower  of  grape-shot  that  soon  routed  them.  D'Hervilli  was 
fatally  wounded,  and  his  men  fled  in  confusion  to  Fort  Penthievre, 
which  the  republicans  would  probably  have  taken  the  same  day,  had 
not  the  fire  of  the  English  gun-boats  prevented  them. 

A  few  days  previous  two  bands  of  Chouans  had  been  sent  by  sea 
north  and  south  of  the  republican  positions  to  make  a  diversion ; 
but  instead  of  attacking  the  "  blues  "  in  the  rear,  they  set  about 
pillaging  the  surrounding  country.  One  of  their  leaders  was  killed, 
and  his  men  dispersed,  and  the  other  band,  pursued  by  the  repub- 
licans, soon  followed  their  example. 

Soon  after  the  defeat  of  the  emigrants,  three  men  in  scarlet  uni- 
forms came  into  the  French  camp  and  declared  themselves  prisoners 


660  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 

of  war,  who  had  joined  the  emigrant  troops  to  escape  the  English 
prison-ships.  These  prison-ships  were  old  English  men-of-war  that 
had  been  razeed  and  crowded  with  French  prisoners,  who  were 
treated  barbarously,  and  almost  starved  to  death.  These  three  men 
had  escaped  from  Fort  Penthievre  by  crawling  along  the  rocks  on 
which  it  is  built,  and  wading  breast-deep  in  water  for  half  a  league 
or  more.  They  told  General  Hoche  that  others  could  enter  by  the 
way  through  which  they  had  escaped. 

On  the  evening  of  July  20,  at  low  tide,  three  republican  columns 
marched  upon  the  fort,  one  to  attack  it  in  front,  while  the  others 
went  by  the  way  of  the  sea.  The  enterprise  was  successful,  and  the 
sun  rose  upon  the  tricolored  flag  floating  from  Fort  Penthievre.  The 
remnant  of  emigrants  fled  from  post  to  post,  the  Chouans  threw 
down  their  arms  and  red  coats  and  escaped  pell-mell,  cursing  emi- 
grants and  English  alike,  to  Port  Haliguen  and  the  little  Fort  St. 
Pierre  at  the  end  of  the  peninsula  beyond  which  lay  the  open  sea. 
Puisaye,  seeing  that  all  was  lost,  embarked  for  England,  leaving  his 
followers  to  their  fate. 

Sombreuil,  left  in  command,  was  attacked  by  a  small  body  of  re- 
publican troops,  and  summoned  the  English  vessels  to  take  his  men 
to  sea;  but  Hoche  hurried  up  and  drove  off  the  English  ships, 
ordering  the  "rebels"  to  lay  down  their  arms,  on  pain  of  being 
drowned  or  put  to  the  bayonet.  Many  were  indeed  drowned  in 
their  effort  to  swim  to  the  ships;  others  stabbed  themselves,  de- 
spairing of  pardon  ;  but  the  majority,  with  Sombreuil  at  their  head, 
surrendered  and  were  mercifully  treated.  Seventy  thousand  guns, 
many  cannon,  and  vast  supplies,  prepared  by  Pitt  to  arm  and 
maintain  civil  war  in  France,  thus  fell  into  Hoche's  hands.  More 
than  ten  millions  in  counterfeit  notes  were  burned.  Sixteen  hun- 
dred French  prisoners  enlisted  by  the  emigrants  were  sent  back  to 
their  regiments;  and  forty-seven  hundred  royalists  remained  cap- 
tive and  were  taken  to  Auray,  many  escaping  by  the  way,  for  their 
escort  did  not  watch  them  closely,  through  pity  for  the  fate  that 
awaited  them.  Hoche  shared  the  feeling,  and  begged  the  Commit- 
tees to  pardon  "  all  but  the  leaders."  Tallien,  however,  who  was 


1795.]  RENEWAL  OF  WAR  IN  LA  VENDEE.  661 

present  at  the  victory  and  reported  it  to  the  Convention,  urged 
sterner  measures.  Being  compromised  not  only  with  the  reaction- 
ists but  with  royalist  agents  in  Paris,  he  felt  the  more  obliged  to  be 
unrelenting. 

A  great  change  had  recently  come  over  the  spirit  of  the  Conven- 
tion, caused  by  the  invasion  of  Quiberon  by  the  "Anglo-emigrants," 
the  Southern  massacres,  and  the  senseless  threats  of  the  royalists 
to  exterminate  not  only  the  Jacobins  and  Girondists,  but  the  Con- 
stitutionalists. Girondists,  Thermidorians,  and  the  Centre  united 
against  the  common  foe ;  and  the  same  Assembly  who  slew  those 
they  called  "  the  last  of  the  Mountaineers,"  in  June,  in  July  ordered 
the  extermination  of  the  emigrants.  A  distinction  was  made  be- 
tween the  prisoners,  the  rebellious  peasants  and  Chouans  from 
Lower  Brittany  being  spared,  and  all  emigrants  and  fugitives  from 
Toulon  suffering  the  rigor  of  the  law.  The  idea  of  such  wholesale 
slaughter  affected  Hoche  deeply,  especially  the  fate  of  Sombreuil ; 
and  he  sent  his  aide-de-camp  to  offer  to  aid  him  to  fly.  Sombreuil, 
on  embarking,  had  quitted  a  young  girl  whom  he  adored  and  was 
about  to  marry ;  nevertheless  he  refused  life,  since  he  could  not 
obtain  it  for  all  his  comrades.  He  was  taken  to  Vannes  with  two 
other  leaders  and  fifteen  priests  belonging  to  the  expedition,  among 
them  that  Bishop  of  Dol  who  had  authorized  emigrant  priests  to 
forge  assignats,  Puisaye  having  intended  him  to  play  the  same  part 
in  Brittany  that  the  false  Bishop  of  Agra  had  done  in  1793  in  La 
Vendee.  Sombreuil  and  the  seventeen  others  were  shot  at  Vannes, 
and  numerous  executions  followed  those  at  Auray,  the  list  of  victims 
numbering  near  a  thousand,  of  whom  the  most  unfortunate,  most 
culpable,  and  least  to  be  pitied  were  the  Toulonese,  who  had  sur- 
rendered their  town  to  England. 

Civil  war  in  La  Vendee  was  renewed  at  the  very  moment  that  the 
emigrants  landed  at  Quiberon.  June  8  Charette,  Stofflet,  Abbe* 
Bernier,  and  their  associates  addressed  a  public  protestation  of 
fidelity  to  the  Republic,  in  order  to  induce  the  representatives  to 
withdraw  their  troops.  On  the  10th  of  June  Charette  wrote  to  the 
Pretender  that  the  royal  cause  might  rely  more  firmly  than  ever  on 


662  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 

him  and  his  friends.  He  had  sent  to  Paris  for  his  promised  indem- 
nity, and  did  not  mean  to  move  until  the  Anglo-emigrant  expedition 
landed  in  La  Vendee,  as  the  Pretender  desired.  But  he  could  not  re- 
strain his  bands ;  and,  one  detachment  having  cruelly  surprised  and 
massacred  a  republican  convoy,  he  decided  to  throw  off  his  mask, 
assembled  his  men,  proclaimed  "  Louis  XVIII."  in  their  presence, 
and  captured  a  republican  post.  A  few  days  later,  hearing  of 
Sombreuil's  death,  he  put  to  death  three  or  four  hundred  of  his 
prisoners.  His  fury,  however,  was  not  a  proof  of  his  strength,  the 
majority  of  the  Vendeans  being  no  longer  disposed  to  follow  either 
him  or  Stofflet. 

The  republican  government  immediately  gave  Hoche  the  com- 
mand in  La  Vendee,  as  well  as  in  Brittany ;  and  the  issue  was  no 
longer  doubtful,  being  only  a  question  of  time.  The  leaders  of 
counter-revolution,  however,  were  not  cast  down  by  the  blow  to 
their  cause ;  straining  every  nerve  to  secure  another  Anglo-emigrant 
expedition,  and  counting  on  Pichegru's  treason,  the  progress  of  re- 
action at  Paris,  and  the  faction  striking  terror  in  the  South. 

Soon  after  the  execution  of  the  Prairial  victims,  the  Convention 
resumed  proceedings  against  the  butchers  of  the  South.  On  a 
report  of  Chenier,  it  had  suspended  the  whole  legislative  corps  of 
Lyons,  and  summoned  the  mayor  and  public  accuser  to  give  an 
account  of  their  guilty  inaction.  It  also  sent  the  Girondist  deputy, 
Poulain-Grandpre,  to  restore  order  in  Lyons,  and  disarm  the  reac- 
tionary national  guard.  The  "  Comrades  of  Jesus  "  at  Lyons,  to  the 
number  of  three  hundred,  were  ordered  to  appear  before  the  crimi- 
nal court  at  Isere ;  but  they  escaped  and  ranged  the  highways,  prey- 
ing on  passing  diligences. 

The  counter-revolutionary  terror,  quelled  at  Lyons,  flourished  in 
Provence  until  autumn. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  Convention  attacked  the  royalists  it 
ceased  to  persecute  the  Mountaineers,  and,  seeming  aware  of  the  ne- 
cessity for  uniting  all  who  upheld  the  Eepublic,  held  a  feast  through- 
out France  on  the  anniversary  of  the  10th  of  August.  Although 
harshly  repressing  every  attempt  to  reinstate  the  Constitution  of 


1795.]  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  YEAR  III.  663 

1793,  it  felt  that  the  revolutionary  government  could  not  long  be 
maintained,  but  must  make  way  for  a  constitutional  republic.  Di- 
rectly after  the  sad  days  of  Prairial,  the  Convention  fulfilled  one  of 
the  promises  then  made  to  the  people,  and  examined  the  Constitu- 
tion of  1793,  but  soon  set  it  aside  and  made  another,  which  shows 
the  changes  that  had  taken  place.  A  commission  of  twelve  was 
chosen  to  draw  up  the  new  constitution,  composed  of  Girondists 
and  men  of  the  Centre ;  and  after  much  discussion,  and  the  offer  of 
a  counter-constitution  from  Sieyes,  the  Constitution  of  the  year  III. 
was  accepted  by  the  Convention,  subject  to  the  people's  approval 
(August  22).  It  proclaimed,  "in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme 
Being,"  not  only  the  declaration  of  the  rights  but  of  the  duties  of 
the  man  and  the  citizen,  based  on  moral  and  religious  grounds.  No 
Frenchman  above  the  age  of  twenty-one  was  to  possess  the  right  of 
citizenship  that  did  not  pay  a  direct  tax  to  the  government,  either 
on  real  estate  or  personal  property.  This  clause,  which  infringed  on 
the  principle  of  equality  recognized  in  the  declaration  of  rights,  was 
hotly  opposed  by  several  representatives,  including  Thomas  Paine, 
the  Anglo-American,  who,  after  serving  America,  had  come  to  France 
to  aid  the  Eevolution.  He  had  suffered  persecution  as  a  friend 
of  the  Girondists,  and  had  returned  to  the  Convention  with  the 
"  seventy-three,"  although  he  had  not  followed  them  in  the  reaction. 
It  passed,  however,  with  two  amendments  intended  to  limit  its  bear- 
ing, one  according  the  rights  of  citizenship  to  any  one  who  had 
fought  for  the  Eepublic  through  one  campaign,  or  who  would  give 
three  days'  labor  to  the  government  in  lieu  of  a  tax.  All,  however, 
could  not  do  this,  and  many  were  thus  deprived  of  political  rights 
which  they  had  enjoyed  since  1792.  This  retrograde  measure,  not- 
withstanding, had  not  the  same  results  that  it  would  have  to-day, 
for  very  few  cared  at  that  time  to  vote.  The  other  and  more  demo- 
cratic restriction  provided  that  no  young  men  should  be  allowed  to 
exercise  the  rights  of  citizenship  who  could  not  read  and  write. 

The  primary  meetings  were  to  choose  one  elector  for  every  two 
hundred  citizens,  each  elector  being  twenty-five  years  old,  and  pos- 
sessed of  an  income  varying  in  value  according  to  locality.  The 


664  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 

electoral  assemblies  then  elected  the  legislative  body,  tribunals,  and 
officers  of  departments ;  the  legislative  body  being  divided  into  two 
houses,  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred  and  the  Council  of  Ancients. 
The  latter  did  not  correspond  to  the  English  House  of  Lords, 
being  rather  copied  from  the  American  Senate.  One  third  of  the 
legislative  body  was  to  be  renewed  each  year,  that  public  opinion 
might  insensibly  modify  it ;  and  the  members  were  to  be  chosen 
from  each  department  in  due  ratio  to  its  population,  and  were  to 
receive  a  small  salary.  To  prevent  a  repetition  of  former  invasions, 
the  number  of  those  admitted  to  their  sessions  was  never  to  exceed 
half  their  own  number,  and  a  guard  of  fifteen  hundred  men  was 
chosen  from  the  national  guard.  The  executive  power  was  intrusted 
to  a  Directory  of  five  members  chosen  by  both  Councils,  one  fifth 
to  be  annually  renewed.  Thus  the  people  chose  the  men  who  made 
their  laws,  and  they  in  turn  chose  those  who  were  to  execute  them. 
The  division  of  executive  power  among  five  was  less  worthy  of 
approbation  than  the  other  measures ;  but  the  Convention  was  still 
too  anxious  to  avoid  even  a  semblance  of  royalty  to  confide  the 
power  to  a  single  man,  as  in  America. 

The  Directory  and  Legislative  Body  wore  a  costume  regulated  by 
law,  which  was  imposing,  though  somewhat  theatrical.  They  all 
were  arrayed  in  large  cloaks,  tricolored  sashes,  and  plumed  hats. 
Freedom  of  the  press,  of  commerce  and  industry,  and  the  inviola- 
bility of  the  home,  were  recognized  by  the  new  constitution.  No 
political  societies  were  to  be  allowed,  and  all  armed  gatherings  were 
to  be  dispersed  by  force.  All  Frenchmen  who  had  abandoned  their 
country  were  forbidden  to  return,  and  their  goods  were  confiscated. 
In  regard  to  religion,  a  sensible  and  decided  ground  was  taken,  no 
one  being  forced  to  contribute  to  religious  worship,  or  forbidden  to 
exercise  his  own  creed,  and  no  ministers  or  priests  were  to  be  paid 
by  government;  thus  breaking  the  fatal  alliance  between  church 
and  state,  which  for  fifteen  centuries  had  caused  so  many  calami- 
ties. But,  alas !  France  was  soon  to  fall  from  the  high  estate  to 
which  the  Revolution  raised  her. 

The  Constitution  of  the  year  III.,  though  unfortunately  bearing 


1795.]  REACTIONIST  RIOTS.  665 

the  marks  of  Thermidorian  reaction  in  some  of  its  chief  points, 
was,  on  the  whole,  the  best  and  least  imperfect  of  the  ten  constitu- 
tions given  to  France  since  1789. 

The  Convention  decided  that  one  third  only  of  the  new  members 
should  enter  the  Councils,  having  less  interested  reasons  than  a 
mere  desire  to  perpetuate  its  own  power,  for  it  feared  that  by  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  and  excluding  all 
former  members  from  the  new  legislature,  great  perils  might  follow. 
France  had  not  had  time  to  take  her  stand  between  the  Terror  and 
the  Reaction ;  a  great  part  of  the  South  was  still  oppressed  by 
rebellion,  conquered,  but  not  destroyed ;  and  even  in  Paris  people 
felt  confused,  and  assemblies  composed  entirely  of  new  men  subject 
to  this  confusion  could  not  direct  the  country. 

The  measures  taken  by  the  Convention  to  establish  the  country 
on  a  firm  footing  excited  furious  clamor  from  the  reactionist  fac- 
tions, of  which  there  were  two,  — the  real  counter-revolutionists,  who 
wished  to  restore  royalty  and  the  old  regime,  and  the  reactionists, 
whose  only  wish  was  to  "  react,"  and  who  held  only  negative  opin- 
ions. This  party  was  made  up  of  tradespeople  exasperated  against 
the  Reign  of  Terror,  especially  the  younger  classes,  who  escaped  the 
draft  by  foisting  themselves  into  public  offices  and  all  sorts  of  civil 
employments.  These  were  the  youth  so  often  caricatured  under  the 
name  of  "  Muscadins  "  and  "  Incroyables  "  ;  with  long,  powdered 
locks,  huge  cravats,  short  coats  with  long  tails,  immense  waistcoats, 
tight  small-clothes,  and  great  walking-sticks.  Costumes  so  ridicu- 
lous had  not  been  seen  since  the  times  of  Henri  III.  and  Charles 
VI.  They  were  led,  especially  in  Paris,  by  literary  men  and  jour- 
nalists, some  of  whom  became  famous.  The  majority  of  the  press, 
which  took  so  important  a  part  in  the  Revolution,  turned  against 
them  after  they  were  persecuted  by  the  Jacobins. 

The  Convention  answered  the  furious  pamphlets  of  the  counter- 
revolutionists  and  the  arrogant  protests  of  the  sections  by  measures 
against  the  refractory  priests,  who  kept  the  people  in  a  turmoil,  the 
emigrants  and  the  "  Toulon  traitors,"  who  had  returned  to  France. 
But  the  agitation  of  the  Paris  sections  still  continued  under  the 


666  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 

reactionists.  The  royalists  dared  not  avow  their  true  character,  and 
railed  at  the  Convention  in  the  name  of  the  people,  accusino-  it  of 
attacking  popular  liberty  by  perpetuating  its  own  power.  The  tur- 
bulent Lepelletier  section  declared  that  the  power  of  all  constitu- 
tional bodies  should  cease  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  people, 
to  which  the  other  sections  agreed,  and  desired  to  form  a  Central 
Committee  to  represent  the  "  assembled  people  "  in  place  of  the 
Convention.  The  Convention  forbade  the  formation  of  sucli  a  com- 
mittee, and  though  the  sections  declared  the  decree  null  and  void, 
they  dared  not  proceed  to  its  organization. 

The  news  of  Jourdan's  crossing  of  the  Ehine  was  stifled  by  this 
tumult.  The  state  of  the  departments  round  about  Paris  was 
alarming.  Patriots  were  assassinated  at  Dreux  and  Nonancourt, 
the  white  cockade  was  displayed  at  Nantes,  liberty-trees  were  cut 
down  at  various  points,  and  bands  of  Chouans  seized  the  public 
coffers.  Cries  of  "  Vive  le  Roi,"  were  raised  at  Chartres  during  a 
revolt  caused  by  famine,  and  Letellier,  a  representative  sent  thither, 
was  surrounded  by  a  mob  clamoring  for  cheap  bread.  To  resist,  was 
to  bring  on  a  bloody  conflict ;  to  yield,  was  to  break  the  law,  since 
the  maximum  was  abolished.  He  yielded,  went  home,  and  blew  out 
his  brains  to  punish  himself  for  transgressing  the  law  to  spare  the 
blood  of  the  people.  To  Dreux,  Nonancourt,  and  Verneuil,  where 
the  trouble  was  not  famine,  but  royalist  plots,  soldiers  were  de- 
spatched who  quelled  the  rebellion. 

September  23  the  Constitution  of  the  year  III.  was  accepted  by 
a  majority  of  fifty  thousand.  This  was  a  great  blow  to  the  reac- 
tionists, who  had  pretended  to  represent  the  will  of  the  people. 
They  accused  the  Committees  of  altering  the  returns,  and  redoubled 
their  threats  against  the  Convention.  The  news  from  abroad  restored 
the  courage  of  the  royalist  leaders.  They  knew  that  the  counter- 
revolutionary reign  of  terror,  suppressed  in  Lyons,  had  broken  out 
more  furiously  than  ever  in  Provence  and  the  neighboring  districts. 
They  counted  on  Pichegru's  treason,  and  heard  that  a  new  Anglo- 
emigrant  expedition  had  sailed  for  La  Vendee.  Pitt  had  at  last 
decided  to  send  a  few  English  troops,  and  the  Count  d'Artois  had 


1795.]      GENERAL  MENOU  AND   THE  INSURGENTS.  667 

very  reluctantly  joined  them.  They  reached  the  Isle  d'Yeu,  in  sight 
of  La  Vende'e,  October  2. 

The  day  before,  the  Lepelletier  section  issued  a  fierce  manifesto 
against  the  decree  of  the  Convention  appointing  October  12  for  the 
elections,  and  convening  Parisian  electors  on  the  2d  of  October. 
Thirty-two  sections  obeyed  the  call.  The  Convention  next  day  for- 
bade the  electors  to  assemble  before  the  appointed  time  on  penalty 
of  prosecution,  and  declared  itself  in  permanent  session,  and  held 
a  memorial  celebration  in  honor  of  Desmoulins,  Philippeaux,  and 
the  proscribed  Girondists,  who  died  "martyrs  to  liberty."  The 
majority  of  electors  did  not  care  to  rebel  openly  against  the  Con- 
vention, and  only  a  hundred  went  to  the  rendezvous  at  the  Thea- 
tre Francais  (the  Odeon)  that  night ;  but  that  minority,  aided 
and  abetted  by  the  "  Muscadins,"  drove  off  the  magistrates  who 
attempted  to  announce  the  Convention's  decree. 

Paris  was  violently  agitated  in  contrary  directions.  The  mob, 
seeing  counter-revolution  beard  the  Convention,  forgot  its  grievances 
of  Germinal  and  Prairial,  and  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine  announced 
that  it  would  defend  the  national  representation.  But  all  fau- 
bourgs and  citizens  known  to  be  Mountaineer  in  spirit  had  been  dis- 
armed as  "  terrorists."  During  the  night  of  October  2  many  patriots 
rushed  to  the  Convention  to  reclaim  their  arms.  It  was  touching  to 
see  the  rough  men  of  July  14  and  August  10  weep  with  joy  when 
their  guns  were  restored.  They  were  formed  into  three  battalions, 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Patriots  of  1789,"  to  show  that  it  was  the 
whole  Revolution  from  its  very  beginning  that  was  now  to  be 
defended.  The  next  day  reactionist  placards  were  posted  about 
the  streets,  announcing  that  the  Convention  had  gone  over  to  the 
"  Blood  Drinkers "  and  was  about  to  massacre  all  Paris,  calling 
the  people  to  arms.  The  situation  was  serious ;  the  Convention 
had  few  forces  at  its  disposal,  and  the  General  in  charge  (Menou) 
was  unreliable.  He  declared  that  he  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  "  brigands  "  disguised  as  "  Patriots  of  1789."  The  commission 
of  five,  chosen  to  watch  over  public  safety,  should  have  dismissed 
him  on  the  spot,  but  through  weakness  or  imprudence  they  retained 


668  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 

him,  keeping  the  "  Patriots  of  1789  "  to  defend  the  Convention  and 
sending  him  with  the  regular  soldiers  to  attack  the  Lepelletier  sec- 
tion, the  centre  of  revolt.  He  parleyed  instead  of  ordering  the 
insurgents  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  agreed  to  withdraw  his  men 
if  they  would  do  the  same.  He  led  off  his  troops,  the  insurgents 
remained,  and  quietly  continued  their  preparations  for  the  next  day. 
This  caused  a  tumultuous  debate  in  the  Convention.  The  leaders 
of  the  insurrection  quarrelled  on  their  side  ;  their  inconsistency  and 
contradiction  were  made  manifest  at  this  decisive  moment.  Most 
of  the  literary  men  who  led  the  movement  entered  on  civil  war 
without  knowing  whither  they  were  tending.  When  their  royalist 
allies  openly  proposed  to  give  the  command  to  the  Vendean  Colbert 
de  Maulevrier,  they  refused,  and  also  repulsed  the  Chouan  leaders, 
who  offered  their  services.  They  would  have  no  white  flag,  and  ex- 
pressed a  horror  of  Southern  massacres,  their  chief  desire  being  to 
be  appointed  in  place  of  the  present  members  of  the  Convention. 
Still  they  took  violent  measures,  putting  royalists  (Eicher  de  Sevisi 
and  Lafont)  at  the  head  of  their  political  and  military  commissions, 
outlawing  the  government  committees,  arresting  several  represent- 
atives, seizing  the  treasury,  intercepting  arms  intended  for  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Antoine,  closing  the  barriers,  and  forming  a  sort  of  revo- 
lutionary court  of  justice.  The  city  grenadiers  and  chasseurs 
belonging  to  the  national  guard,  equipped  at  their  expense,  and 
numbering  twenty  thousand,  followed  the  leaders  of  the  sections 
for  fear  of  a  return  of  the  Reign  of  Terror. 

The  Convention  had  only  three  thousand  five  hundred  regular 
soldiers  and  one  thousand  five  hundred  "Patriots  of  1789,"  who 
were  soon  joined  by  several  hundred  workmen  from  the  Faubourg 
St.  Antoine.  An  able  general  was  indispensable,  and  after  pro- 
longed discussion  Menou  was  removed. 

Some  time  previous,  foreseeing  this  storm,  Hoche  had  offered  his 
services  to  the  Committees,  but  they  thought  him  too  great  a  man, 
and  now  gave  the  command  to  Barras,  who  chose  as  aid  a  young 
officer  who  had  recently  come  to  Paris. 

This  young  officer  was  Bonaparte !     Beginning  his  military  tri- 


1795.]  ATTACK  ON   THE  CONVENTION.  669 

umplis  at  the  siege  of  Toulon,  he  commanded  the  artillery  of  the 
army  of  Italy  in  1794,  and  was  recalled  as  a  Eobespierrist,  at  the 
height  of  the  reaction.  His  friend,  the  younger  Eobespierre,  tried 
to  draw  him  to  Paris  before  the  9th  Thermidor,  by  an  offer  to  make 
him  commander  of  the  national  guard  in  Hanriot's  place.  Had 
he  accepted,  that  day  might  have  been  very  different.  He  would 
not,  however,  engage  in  the  struggle  which  he  foresaw  between  the 
Robespierrists  and  the  Committees.  He  had  been  in  Paris  since 
the  spring  of  1795,  and  had  vegetated  for  some  time  in  a  condition 
bordering  on  indigence.  His  memoirs,  full  of  military  ability,  con- 
cerning the  Italian  war,  finally  won  the  notice  of  the  governmental 
committees,  and  he  was  put  into  the  topographic  bureau,  where 
plans  for  campaigns  and  instructions  for  the  generals  were  prepared. 
Some  time  later  he  was  ordered  to  join  the  army  in  La  Vendee  as 
General  of  Artillery.  He  refused,  as  there  was  nothing  of  impor- 
tance to  be  achieved  there,  and  the  Committee  accordingly  struck 
him  off  the  list  of  active  officers  (September  15).  Discouraged,  he 
was  about  to  enlist  in  the  Turkish  service  when  the  crisis  of  Ven- 
deiniaire  burst  on  France,  and  Barras,  who  had  recognized  his  genius 
at  Toulon,  claimed  him  as  his  aid. 

It  was  half  past  four  in  the  morning.  Barras  and  Bonaparte  lost 
not  an  instant,  but  sent  the  leader  of  a  squadron  in  all  haste  to 
bring  up  the  artillery  qiiartered  at  Grenelle.  This  officer  was 
Murat.  His  cavalry  reached  the  camp  simultaneously  with  a  troop 
sent  by  the  rebels,  which  yielded  to  the  cavalry ;  and  at  six  o'clock 
forty  cannon  were  at  the  Tuileries.  This  was  a  first  success  of 
prime  importance,  for  the  insurgents  had  no  artillery,  the  sections 
having  returned  their  cannon  to  the  government  after  the  Prairial 
days.  Bonaparte  distributed  the  artillery  to  the  best  advantage 
round  the  Tuileries,  and  the  government  gave  orders  to  remain  on 
the  defensive.  The  insurgent  general,  an  officer  named  Danican, 
who  had  served  in  La  Vendee,  also  wished  to  avoid  an  attack  The 
cry  of  treason  was  raised  against  him  ;  but  he  persisted  in  waiting 
until  General  Carteaux,  who  was  stationed  at  the  head  of  Pont- 
Xeuf,  fell  back  before  the  superior  force  of  the  rebels.  He  then 


670  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.          [CHAP.  XXV. 

parleyed  with  Carteaux  and  let  him  keep  his  cannon,  rather  than 
"humiliate  the  army  and  render  all  approach  impossible."  He 
relied  on  the  reactionists  in  the  Committees,  who  urged  the  Con- 
vention to  ruinous  concessions.  Danican  sent  a  man  to  the  Assem- 
bly with  a  letter  asking  an  interview,  and  hinting  that  peace  might 
be  restored  at  once  if  government  would  disarm  "  the  terrorists " 
around  it.  The  Committees  did  not  reply  directly,  but  decided  to 
send  twenty-four  representatives  to  the  sections  "  to  enlighten  de- 
luded citizens." 

The  Convention  had  supplied  itself  with  guns.  The  Marseillaise 
was  heard  without,  sung  in  chorus  by  the  soldiers  and  armed  pa- 
triots ;  while  in  the  distance  the  insurgents  chanted  the  reactionary 
song,  "  Le  Eeveil  du  Peuple."  Suddenly  the  cry,  "  To  arms ! "  was 
raised.  Several  of  the  deputies  hurried  out,  sword  in  hand,  to  lead 
the  defenders  of  the  Assembly.  The  rest  quietly  resumed  their 
seats,  amid  the  sound  of  cannon  and  grape-shot.  It  has  never  been 
known  who  opened  the  fire  without  orders,  but  it  is  said  that  the 
rebels  endeavored  to  surprise  the  Committee  of  General  Safety,  and 
approached  under  pretence  of  making  friends;  then,  when  near 
enough,  they  seized  the  cannon  and  fired  on  the  troops,  who  re- 
pulsed them  with  vigor. 

A  spirited  contest  took  place  near  the  Church  of  St.  Eoch, 
which  was  held  by  the  rebels.  The  gunners  of  the  Convention 
were  attacked  from  the  church  steps  and  neighboring  houses,  and 
thrice  abandoned  their  cannon  under  this  murderous  fire,  but  the 
patriots  of  1789  saved  them ;  and  by  nightfall  the  Lepelletier  sec- 
tion submitted,  two  hundred  of  the  rebels  being  killed.  The  victors 
did  not  abuse  their  success.  Not  a  single  act  of  cruelty  occurred. 
The  Convention  dealt  gently  with  the  rebels,  most  of  whose  leaders 
fled,  and  only  two  were  executed,  —  the  emigrant  Lafont,  and  Le- 
bois,  the  president  of  the  criminal  court  of  the  Seine.  Menou  was 
acquitted. 

A  third  condemnation  to  death  occurred  later,  but  not  exclusively 
for  the  October  revolt.  The  condemned  man  was  Lemaitre,  an  agent 
of  the  Pretender.  The  report  on  his  conspiracy  caused  an  uproar 


1795.]  CLOSE  OF  THE  CONVENTION.  671 

in  the  Assembly.  Tallien  demanded  a  secret  committee,  and  ac- 
cused four  of  his  colleagues  of  being  royalist  accomplices  and 
promoters  of  the  insurrection,  naming  Lanjuinais,  Boissi-d'Anglas, 
Lariviere,  and  Lesage.  The  excitement  was  great,  the  two  latter 
being  held  in  high  esteem.  Though  the  charge  might  have  been 
true  in  regard  to  the  fierce  reactionist  Lariviere,  it  was  impossible 
with  respect  to  the  others,  although  fear  of  civil  war,  and  dread  of 
anything  tending  to  a  reign  of  terror,  had  made  them  lukewarm 
in  putting  down  the  revolt.  The  Convention  discarded  Tallien's 
charges,  but  arrested,  on  suspicion  of  complicity,  four  deputies  who 
had  been  the  most  violent  in  persecuting  the  patriots,  among  them 
the  ex-as.sassins  of  the  famous  seventy-three,  —  Bovere  and  Aubri. 
The  Girondist,  Louvet,  joined  the  Thermidorians,  Barras  and  Freron, 
against  the  reactionary  conspirators. 

Barras  through  his  position,  Freron  from  passion,  and  Tallien  to 
obliterate  all  trace  of  his  party  intrigues,  revived  the  Mountain, 
whose  purest  members  they  had  sacrificed,  and  urged  the  Conven- 
tion to  violent  measures.  A  commission  of  five  was  chosen  to  pre- 
sent measures  for  public  safety,  in  view  of  the  condition  of  the 
South.  Many  in  the  Convention  hoped  for  a  coup  d'etat,  and  the 
repeal  of  the  electoral  returns  of  October  12,  it  being  well  known 
that  voting  in  the  Southeast  had  taken  place  under  counter-revolu- 
tionary compulsion,  which  had  procured  the  election  of  returned 
emigrants,  accomplices,  if  not  leaders,  of  the  "  Comrades  of  Jesus." 
Steadfast  republicans,  however,  led  by  Daunou,  fought  against  the 
coup  d'etat,  knowing  that,  by  resorting  to  revolutionary  expedients, 
they  would  destroy  every  chance  of  establishing  legal  liberty  and  a 
republic  in  France.  Tallien  finally  obtained  an  order  for  the  sus- 
pension from  office,  until  peace  was  restored,  of  all  who  had  aided 
in  seditious  arrests  during  the  elections,  and  of  all  relatives  of  emi- 
grants, and  an  order  for  the  execution  of  the  laws  against  priests 
subject  to  transportation  or  imprisonment. 

On  the  26th  of  October  the  new  Legislative  Body  and  the  two 
Councils  came  into  power,  and  the  Convention  held  its  last  session. 
It  abolished  the  death-penalty  on  the  signing  of  peace,  wishing  to 


672  THE  FRENCH   REVOLUTION.  [CHAP.  XXV. 

destroy  the  guillotine,  so  often  abused  in  its  name ;  but  its  last  wish 
was  never  fulfilled.  The  Place  de  la  Revolution  was  changed  to 
the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  to  efface  its  tragic  memories,  and  amnesty 
was  granted  for  all  acts  against  the  Eevolution  excepting  those  per- 
taining to  the  Conspiracy  of  Vendemiaire  13,  the  priests  transporter! 
or  subject  to  transportation,  the  forgers  of  assignats,  and  the  emi- 
grants. It  then  declared  through  its  president  that  its  mission  was 
completed,  and  dissolved  amid  cries  of  "  Long  live  the  Eepublic ! " 

The  Convention  had  lasted  three  years,  one  month,  and  four  days, 
and  had  issued  eleven  thousand  two  hundred  and  ten  decrees. 
Those  three  years  count  for  three  centuries  in  history.  The  name 
of  this  great  and  terrible  Assembly,  so  much  admired  and,  so  much 
execrated,  will  never  cease  to  raise  discussion  while  the  memory 
of  man  endures.  All  its  actions,  good  and  bad,  were  of  colossal 
proportions;  and  when  we  compare  it  with  the  assemblies  of 
subsequent  years,  the  whole  world,  both  men  and  things,  seems 
dwarfed. 

"When  liberty  perished,  on  the  31st  of  May,  the  Convention 
undertook  to  save  national  independence  and  to  found  a  new  civil 
code.  The  first  half  of  this  task  it  accomplished,  preparing  the 
essential  elements  of  the  second.  It  attempted  even  more,  —  to 
restore  the  liberty  France  had  lost.  After  giving  up  the  impracti- 
cable constitution  of  1793,  it  made  a  serious  effort  to  form  a  free 
and  wisely  balanced  one;  and,  in  spite  of  its  failings,  the  consti- 
tution of  the  year  III.  still  merits  study  and  contains  excellent 
provisions,  to  the  level  of  which  France  has  never  since  risen. 


END   OF  YOL.   I. 


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